Work ethics: should you accept every task you're given to do?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 28 Aug 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

wavebreaker	28 Aug 2002
Today, a very interesting discussion was started at work. One of my colleagues is working on a project for a client of ours, an internet service provider. They are currently making the internet accessible via mobile phone, using IMode technology. Yesterday, he was asked to start working on a module that makes soft porn available on a mobile phone. Today, he sent round an email expressing his doubts about what he was doing. The thing is, here in the Netherlands (I don't know what the situation is like in other countries) mobile phones are immensely popular among teenagers, as young as 10. They are using them to call each other, to send each other text messages and, now that this IMode technology is available, to access the internet. As far as we know, no filters are available as yet to filter soft porn on mobile phones, which means that this soft porn will be accessible to these teenagers. My colleague is now questioning whether he should continue working on this project, because he thinks it's unethical. So now a more general discussion has started within the company: do we have to accept just any project? Do we, as employees, have the right to refuse a project that has been accepted by the company? (BTW: I doubt whether our company knew about the soft porn module involved in this particular project.) What if, for example, we are asked to work on a website for a religious or political organisation that has completely opposite views from your own, should we put our own views aside and just get the job done? Several colleagues have already expressed their support for this colleague's opinion and our management has promised to open a discussion forum for this issue, tomorrow at the latest, because they want to encourage the discussion. Meanwhile, I'm glad to be working among a group of people who aren't just a bunch of robots that simply accept every task they're given. I doubt whether it will make any difference to the ISP this colleague is working for if he would refuse to work on this project any longer, they will probably simply hire someone else, but hopefully it will at least make them think about their responsibilities towards society.

Violet Gargoyle	28 Aug 2002
Hi Tarotlady. I can understand the nature of the work you have since I have a similiar, yet different task. I work for a pay for placement search engine and part of my job is to assign and check keywords that are submitted by our clients, users who run business websites. Pay for placement is people bidding to be the first one seen in any given search result (as opposed to the search engine who rely on meta tags to scan for a word in the webpages). Now, to say something about society, it believe nearly half of our revenue comes from adult content sites, in all degrees of core. (I still have to look up some definitions every once in a while). However, part of my job is to actually do what I can to make sure that clients are properly assigned keywords, meaning so nobody looking for "Britney Spears" gets a nasty surprise. And unfortunately there are those who will try to do things to unfiltrate the system and create pop ups, and I have to track those down too as well as report any of the downright illegal subjects of porn (like underage). Most reputable search engines try to do a good job in sorting out the family friendly from the adult sites, at least make it sort you have to actively look for adult sites with obviously adult terms. I can see how your coworker would be disturbed by allowing sich sites to display on mobile phones. I know sometimes at the end of the day I feel like I am drowning to keep everyone sorted out. Maybe more research could be done on where the client pulls their web lists from, and how easy would it be to get to the adult sites. Do they use a search engine, or are their website results created within the ISP, like an in-house search engine. I know if you type an adult word you are actively searching for it so you will be certain to find porn there, but what about those sites based of off famous look alikes? If you type in the just name of a famous person, how many adult sites will pull up? Do you know if the client's ISP has any filtering or babysitting programs that they could transfer to this new service, like many of the search engines there is an adult filter for results, or is there one you can offer from your side, especially created just for them? An autofilter since it would be hard for the parents to monitor what the kids are looking at when they are on a mobile away from home? Again I can see how your coworker would be uncomfortable. I myself see the job that I do as necessary to help prevent kids from getting to adult sites They would have to type in obviously adult terms to find any adult site, and kids probably wouldn't be looking for them unless the idea gets into their mind outside of the internet to search for them and not be supervised by their parents. If I didn't do this work, then they might hire someone not as careful with the job, or who sees the dollar signs and revenue potential and let things slide. At least I have no problem turning away (and I have) people that could not adhere to our rules... Just some points for your discussion at work, hope it was useful. :)

wavebreaker	28 Aug 2002
I don't know the details about this particular project and I don't know much about IMode technology myself, because it's still fairly new. But from what I understand from my colleague's story, is that people will be able to access the ISP's website on their mobile phone and that one of the options available will be soft porn. So there is no "filter" in the form of keywords that have to be entered first, the option will simply show up to anyone accessing that page; in other words: teenagers who may be visiting this website just to look up the latest news on their favourite pop star will see these options. And teenagers do form the main audience for this website!

jade	28 Aug 2002
i would just like to take a brief moment of your time, both of you. thank you. as a parent and a very concerned one over the "content of the internet" and the accessibility of it............................thank you. thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you :) oh and by the way, thank you. jade

Diana	28 Aug 2002
tarotlady: I really can't see how anyone could do a task that they feel is going against their beliefs. It would end up by making the person ill, I am sure. One has to live with one's conscience - day in and day out. And no money, or loyalty to one's company - is going to make one feel better about betraying one's higher self. Sounds like you work for a really nice company. How come people in the Netherlands are so broad-minded? Is it genetic? If so, can one buy these genes in supermarkets :) ? Wow - fighting porn on the internet sounds like a tough task. I'm using a filter on Norton for my kid, but when he goes to friends' houses, I cannot imagine the stuff he gets to see. Oh well, I suppose some kids are having their legs blown off with land-mines, so one shouldn't complain too much.

Minderwiz	28 Aug 2002
I agree with Diana, you seem to work for a very concientious and concerned employer who appears to be more than willing to listen to the concerns of its employees. A number of countries have adopted legislation which allows employees to 'whistle blow' if their company is engaged in illegal activities and your colleagues case he might actually argue that both he and the company are aiding and abetting the selling of porn to underage children - which I assume is illegal in the Netherlands as it is here in the UK and in virtually all other countries. If there is no software or hardware controls to prevent access by underage children then the company may well be liable in law - I think they should seek legal advice as a bare minimum. On the wider issue I would like to see a situation where an employee could refuse to engage in work which they considered to be strongly offensive to their beliefs. Again a number of countries have provided religious protection under the law but most do not. It often comes down to a choice of either resigning, asking to be reassigned or simply putting up with it. I would suggest that the middle course is always the best starting position. If you feel that what you are being asked to do is offensive then discuss the situation with your managers and ask for alternative work. If they have any shread of human relations management skills they will try and assign you to other work. However sometimes you may find that knowing the firm is engaged in the work somewhere is too much - in which case you may have no other option but resignation. Minderwiz

wavebreaker	28 Aug 2002
Again, I'm not on this project so I don't know all the details, but I don't think this client is doing anything illegal, it's not as if they are selling porn to underage children. What they are doing is very questionable, but not illegal. We had a party at the office tonight and I heard my boss say that our company didn't know anything about this "module" when the project was accepted from this client, so it's not just my colleague who was surprised about this, but also the account manager who took on the project. My boss also said that he wants to set up guidelines for these cases, which is why he'll be setting up a discussion forum so everyone in the company can have their say about it and we can set up guidelines that are acceptable to all employees. As for refusing a project: if I would be given a project that would strongly oppose my personal beliefs, I would refuse it, and I'm convinced that my employer would accept that. However, I don't really expect that to happen, as my company's standards on what kind of projects are acceptable are very much in line with my own standards.

DarkElectric	28 Aug 2002
I would definitely turn down a project that I felt was in conflict with my moral and ethical beliefs. I gave up a career in media- Television, to be exact- because I felt as if the programming agenda of network and news programming was in DIRECT conflict with my morals and ethics. I was less then enthused about advertising too. So, I got out. I have an opportunity to intern for PBS, and I am considering that. There is always an alternative.

Violet Gargoyle	28 Aug 2002
Quote: Originally posted by jade i would just like to take a brief moment of your time, both of you. thank you. as a parent and a very concerned one over the "content of the internet" and the accessibility of it............................thank you. thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you :) oh and by the way, thank you. jade ****blush****

RedWood	28 Aug 2002
It is very nice to hear that someone is not a robot..soft porn on a phone? sheeesh...I agree with Jade..Thank You!!

wavebreaker	13 Sep 2002
As a result of some discussion on this issue within our company, management has now drawn up a policy stating that whenever an employee encounters an ethical dilemma while working on a project, the employee's principles and choices will be respected by management. I don't know what happened with the project that initiated the discussion, but my guess is that my colleague is no longer working on it... ;)

Violet Gargoyle	14 Sep 2002
Hey, I was just wondering how all that turned out for you (and your coworker). You actually have a policy passed down by management that we wish we had in nearly every work place.....

RedWood	14 Sep 2002
Wow a Policy!! great workplace~! Do you have to prove or atleast have a good reason to prove it is unethical toyou? you just cant come out say..hey.goes against my ethics and thats it?

wavebreaker	14 Sep 2002
It's enough to say that something goes against your ethics. Obviously, this should be within reason: if you would say that working for a multinational company or working for the government goes against your ethics, you'd better find yourself another job, because that would cover most of our projects... ;) Refusing a project for, say, the Ministry of Defense because you're a pacifist, or for an anti-abortion organisation because you're pro abortion, that will be accepted.

The Work ethics: should you accept every task you're given to do? thread was originally posted on 28 Aug 2002 in the Chat board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Chat, or read more archived threads.