Hussain Abbasi
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Beliefs regarding ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behavior.
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Conforms to generally accepted social norms
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Virtues

Vice
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Value System
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Religious views
 Islam:
“Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberty to kith
and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and
rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition.”
[Chapter 16, Verse 90]
 Christianity:
Jesus asked: “If you lend to those from whom you hope to
receive, what credit is that to you?”
[Luke 6:34]
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Gathering and using personal data
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Employers monitoring employees activities on
company resources

Peer 2 Peer downloading Copyrighted material

Hackers engaged in cyber-terrorism

Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM)
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Association of Information Technology Professionals
(AITP)

Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE)

Certified Software Development Professional
(CSDP)

Provided 20 Inputs have:
 12 – Unethical inputs
 7 – Not Unethical inputs
 1 – Not related to Ethic
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Do as directed by the employer
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Take stand and do something about it

One should take action towards the misconduct

Bring it up to immediate supervisor

If trivial consequences, fixable later

If serious, will not execute

Blowing whistle ?

What is Whistle-Blowing?
 Voluntary release of nonpublic information to an
appropriate audience about illegal conduct.

Who can blow the whistle?
 Only employees are considered to blow the whistle. A
witness or a reporter exposing illegal actions of an
organization is not considered as blowing the whistle.

Should we blow the whistle?

Is whistle-blowing justified?
 Ethical justification is obviously in favor of public service
 The Loyal Agent argument
 Meaning of loyalty

When is whistle-blowing justified?
 Lives are on stake
 All facts are properly understood
 All internal channels are exhausted
 Closely related to the employee’s work

Consequences
 Great risk on personal life and financials
 Possible dismissal
 Being blacklisted as “trouble-maker”
 Chuck Atchinson
○
Quality Control Inspector at Brown & Root
 Joseph Rose
○
In-house attorney for the Associated Milk Producers Incorporated (AMPI)
 Sharron Watkins
○
Vice President of corporate development at ENRON

Is it Right to blow the whistle?
 Federal False Claims Act of 1863 (amended 1986)
○ Paid percentage of settlements to whistle-blowers during
post-Civil War reconstruction period.
○ Highest settlement was issued to Douglas D. Keith for $22.5
million of the $150 million received in the settlement with
United Technologies Corporation.
 Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
○ Prohibited retaliation against federal government employees
 Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA)
○ Prohibited retaliation in private sector as well.
 Title VII of 1964 Civil Rights Act
○ Protects employees against discrimination

Argument Against Whistle-Blower Protection
 Used by disgruntled employees to cover their own
incompetence by blowing the whistle and taking out the
‘antidismissal insurance’
 Makes it harder for employers to run their business as
they see fit and makes it harder for managers to run the
company
 Will reduce the trust and value in working as team in an
organization

Argument For Whistle-Blower Protection
 Direct benefit of bringing up illegal corporate conduct,
gross waste and mismanagement, and danger to public
brought to light
 Ralph Nader said, corporate employees are among the
first ones to identify the problem and can help prevent
many hazards if take appropriate action in time.

When questionable inputs are provided and harm
to public or environment is realized, the employee
should report to appropriate party as he is under
moral obligation to do so. He is an agent of his
employer and have limited obligation towards his
organization, but also have obligations to the
greater good of public service. The law protects
him and it is in his best interest to sound the alarm
now rather than to be a part of a conspiracy later.
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IBM developerWorks
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/may06/pollice/index.html
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Boatright, John R. ETHICS AND THE CONDUCT OF
BUSINESS. 3rd. Upper Sadle River: Prentice-Hall,
Inc., 2000.
Reynolds, George. ETHICS IN Information Technology.
Boston: THOMPSON LEARNING INC., 2003.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_on_busine
ss_ethics
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