In yet another article on Slashdot that caught my attention, I had to say “HUH?”. The article is basically a question about the ethical dilemmas that IT professionals face in their day-to-day jobs. The one example brought up was finding child pornography or the like on someone’s computer or finding out that they browse those kinds of sites at work. As someone who plays a major role in supporting people and all things technological, I see a lot of stuff. While I have never come across something like this (I have seen pornographic images on computers owned by students), I hope I never come across something like that. The question was what to do if that happens to you. In the ensuing discussion, IT people were added to the ranks of doctors, teachers, and police in that we are generally the first to notice illegal activity when it comes to the internet and technology (like how teachers and doctors generally first notice signs of abuse). It is my opinion that certain activity warrants a call to the authorities, whoever they might be (campus security, the local police department, the FBI, etc). In that sense, there is no dilemma. The dilemma occurs when you need to decide what might happen to you for bypassing your manager and going to the authorities and who you should go about contacting. In the case of something as disgusting as child pornography or something very blatantly illegal, I would probably go straight to the police or the FBI. In other cases where the legality could be questionable, I might go to my manager or campus security.
The dilemma, however, is what happens to you. Let’s say, for instance, you catch the college president or the CEO doing something definitely illegal. If you bypass your manager and go straight to the police, you risk a serious cover-up and possible loss of your job (though whistleblower laws are supposed to protect you, but I’m not sure how effective they are if the company really wants to cover it up and get you out). If you talk to your manager, there’s the risk (such as with the explanation in the Slashdot article) that it’ll just get blown over and nothing will ever come of it. I am of the opinion that people breaking the law should be willing to face the consequences, whatever the might be. I am not talking about copyright violations or DMCA violations in any of this. Those ares are so grey, it’s really difficult to determine the innocence or guilt of the parties involved. Those kinds of issues should be dealt with in a different manner (though I don’t agree the RIAA’s or MPAA’s tactics, they do have a right to protect their copyrights).
One thing is clear to me in all of this, however. The IT employees should not be playing the role of law enforcement, nor should they be expected to. That is not their job, just as it is not the job of doctors and teachers to confront parents or spouses in the possible case of abuse.
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