Illegal but Ethical

[robert.portvliet at gmail.com (Robert Portvliet)]

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 <irongeek at irongeek.com> 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
>
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