I would think there are times in most rational people's lives where their personal ethics may come into conflict with the law, most likely with increasing frequency given the steaming piles of ridiculous legislation we see passed into law each day by our 'duly elected officials'
I know you're fond of Heinlein so: I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. ~Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM, Adrian Crenshaw <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > I was listening to the Thomas Wilhelm interview, and the ethics part got > my attention. I recently got in academic trouble at school because I said > something can be illegal but ethical, and in the teacher's mind I would not > let it go. I think I brought it up three times, in context, and it took > about 3 min of class time. I used the classic "Are there Jews in your > basement", and lying about it if there are, asked in Nazi Germany as and > example where something is illegal, but ethical. I was slamed later because > this is "extreme" and "not business related" and in the complaint I was > slammed as "anti-law" and "anti-ethics". Is seems in the tech field, there > are many examples of items that a business related, illegal but ethical. A > few examples: > > Cleanflicks buying DVDs, making edited copies to rent, and keeping the > originals in storage (DMCA violation) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CleanFlicks > > Posting prpitary data that shows voting machines to be vulnerable (DMCA > again) > http://www.eff.org/cases/online-policy-group-v-diebold > > I might be able to tie this in as well > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust > > Any other examples you can think of with items that are business related, > illegal but ethical? Got a good reverse engenering example? > > > Thanks, > Adrian > > _______________________________________________ > Pauldotcom mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom > Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com > _______________________________________________ Pauldotcom mailing list [email protected] http://mail.pauldotcom.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/pauldotcom Main Web Site: http://pauldotcom.com
