LebGeeks

mir

Member

Pity Issue !

when working with software that control and monitor ppl

did u ever feel sorry or pity for the user that ur software is monitoring

i am having this ethical issue

most of the time there is a way , backdoor or a way around to prevent some things in that monitoring system
as a programmer, i know all of them. or couple of ways hard to detect

sometimes i really feel sorry for the employees
they have such rich mean stingy hateful bosses
sometimes , i become good frnds with them
good ppl with bad bosses

so.. they beg me to teach them a way around

so on one hand i have the human side on the other there is the work for my company.. and i am breaking the concept for wich i built the software

so.. what would u do if u were in my place
how would u think of the situation

give what i should do in my situation or ur point of view

- hope u got what i mean -

mahdoum

Member

Re: Pity Issue !

It wouldn't be my decission to break my own code and help users get unmonitered. After all who are you to say that things would be better if they we're unmonitered? I'd just say something like the boss will be aware if the system is disabled or something...

rolf

Member

Re: Pity Issue !

You can use vnc to monitor screens, it's free and open source.
Dont worry, if you dont do it, the client will find someone else to do it.
ANd about the ethical issue, after all the computer belongs to the company, so it can install on it monitoring software... right?

I hate this monitoring thing... i think employees should work from their own motivation, and there should be no monitoring... but it seems bosses just like to watch their employees and make a big deal of any loss of time.

rolf

Member

Re: Pity Issue !

If I was in your place and someone asks for a way around... I think i'd give it... I just love doing that :) but I was never in your position of giving a way of bypassing your own software... and if your boss finds out he's not going to be happy... after all you're selling "solutions", not just software, and like this you just broke your solution...

But seriously... I have no idea... I dont envy you right now...
Well you actually are befriending the employees and telling them about the monitoring system... so maybe that's bezyede 3a ra2beton... why do they want to disable the system, what do they have to hide? And think about your company, the clents will find out that it can be disabled, your company will be called, and most probably YOU will be asked to work overtime to fix that backdoor...

Now if you really believe in this ethical issue and believe that it's worth fighting for and it's an issue of destiny of mankind... then go ahead and fight for it :)

What sort of monitoring system is it, by the way, does it monitor the display or does it monitor application use and open files, etc... ?

Last edited by rolf (December 7 2006)

nuclearcat

Member

Re: Pity Issue !

On my opinion, there is job, and i have to do it properly. My employer paid me not for my ethical opinion, i can give suggestion, but i dont have right to add backdoors, it will totally breaks my reputation as developer. If i decide, that software just wrong and breaks people privacy, i will explain that i cannot do this job by ethical reasons. Ur theory can be wrong, and for example programmer who write code for spaceship for Mars Mission, in his religion it is for example forbidden that humans can travel to other planets, and he will embed in code error, so mission will fail.
So finally, i will force management to fire programmer immediately, who is embedding backdoors without notifying management.

Better to not do job, than do job wrong way.

P.S. I am involved in some management decisions, and see how people spending their time for fun at worktime. It is ok, even me doing that, but it must have limits. If your boss(human resource management?) dumb, he will not let u to do it at all, then leave job. If he is smart, he just will calculate time and results of your work, and if you do perfect job -  he will ignore that u spend time for fun a bit.

rolf

Member

Re: Pity Issue !

If he is smart, he just will calculate time and results of your work, and if you do perfect job -  he will ignore that u spend time for fun a bit.

Exactly, that's what I think, users should not be monitored like school students but judged on their output.

teodorgeorgiev

Member

Re: Pity Issue !

At least the company *must* warn their employees in advance, that such a monitoring system exists.

Practice shows that giving too much freedom to the office users brings nothing but trouble. In example - security flaws (getting virus or a troyan horse can reveal inside information to hostile individuals "outside"). Or some idiot to share all his PC with the company documents on Kazaa / torrents...

And if shit happens, the manager does not blame the user, but the admin (or --> including the admin).