I think it would be possible to come up with a "test" that helps one distinguish between valid whistleblowing for "the civic good" and carelessness. Ethicists come up with these things all the time. (I can give examples of such "tests" if you wish)
I would say that in this case some candidate tests would be: 1. They are exposing something that is clearly against the law. 2. They are not benefiting monetarily from having the information revealed. 3. All other courses of action have been tried and failed (possibly not by them but by others). You can debate whether the list is complete or whether Snowden could say "yes" to all three. Personally from what I've read, he could easily say "yes" to all three (with the third being less cut-and-dried). It would be radical for an organization like LOPSA to endorse such a list, especially since it could lead to losing their tax status (501c3's may not encourage illegal activity). I've long felt that the problem with the LOPSA Code of Ethics is that for each item there is a "...it's ok if your boss tells you to do so" loophole (except where breaking the law is concerned). Fixing that is beyond my skill-set :-) Tom On Tue, Jun 11, 2013 at 1:51 PM, Josh Smift <[email protected]> wrote: > DB> PS - Myself, I agree with Tom. I think this guy is showing "what a > DB> motivated system administrator can do for the civic good", DESPITE > DB> promises he has made and broken. > > How much do you (and Tom) feel that way because you agree with Snowden's > views on what "the civic good" is? > > Would you feel the same way (that "whistleblowers need all the help they > can get") if his leak had been motivated by something that you could see > why someone else might find virtuous, but which you personally find > repugnant, with effects that he (and many many other people) saw as good, > but which you personally saw as disastrous? > > -Josh ([email protected]) > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ -- Email: [email protected] Skype: YesThatTom Blog: http://EverythingSysadmin.com ⬤ . . : . ) ● ● ● ● _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
