NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Atrocious Ethics Galore in the "Lost iPhone" Case
Atrocious Ethics Galore in the "Lost iPhone" Case
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000711.html
Greetings. An extremely interesting analysis of the ongoing "lost
next-generation iPhone" case has appeared over on "Daring Fireball" --
it's very much worth reading ( http://bit.ly/cqnpYO ).
I agree very much with the thrust of that article.
And now let's bring some ethical analysis explicitly into
the mix as well.
The behavior of the iPhone "finder" -- who then sold the phone
to Gizmodo -- and Gizmodo's actions, were both ethically atrocious.
Gizmodo, in their desire for a scoop, appears to have willingly
committed acts that were obviously unethical (and in the current case
quite possibly illegal). This is a pattern we see all too often in
high-tech particularly when it comes to ethics, and indeed
specifically on the Internet. In a rush to "monetization," basic
ethics -- of the kind that your parents hopefully taught you when you
were a child -- can get tossed aside as inconvenient bottlenecks.
Facebook's recent privacy-abusive actions come particularly to mind in
this ethical context.
Right now the Net is all abuzz about the police raid on the Gizmodo
editor's home. I'll let law enforcement, lawyers, and perhaps the
courts figure that one out. But I'm also seeing a new meme being
established calling Apple a "thug" in relation to that raid, as if the
officers involved were members of a private Apple security force.
As regular readers know, I'm no Apple fanboy. And I'm already on
record as recommending that Apple not seriously punish the engineer
who lost the iPhone, nor pursue civil litigation in this case.
But the new attempts to shift blame to Apple are disingenuous, and the
associated ethical abominations committed by both the iPhone
"finder/seller," and by Gizmodo as the iPhone
"buyer/disassembler/publicizer," are cast in stone regardless of
whether or not criminal and/or civil charges are ever filed in this
matter, and irrespective of whether or not the police raid was
actually appropriate.
If the finder of the iPhone who sold it to Gizmodo for $5K, and
Gizmodo as well who willingly paid the money, had both behaved ethically
in the first place, this entire mess could have been avoided, and many
observers, including myself, wouldn't feel so utterly disgusted at the
behavior of some presumably smart techies who really should have known
better.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein