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Discussion on: Have you ever had to take an ethical stand while on the job as a developer?

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iamschulz profile image
Daniel Schulz

When working with a11y tests, I sure did.
However, someone close to me had a more noteworthy argument: Linda [name changed] worked in an advertising agency who specialized on middle class customers. One of them had a dispute with his direct business competitor, so he placed a ticket in the agency. He wanted to have the wikipedia page of his competitor manipulated to gain an edge in business. Linda was assigned to it.
When she started the ticket she didn't only realize how ethically wrong it was, but also nearly impossible to do because of wikipedias open and crowd-collaborating nature. She talked to her manager about her ethical and technical objections and got phoned by her boss immediately after.
She was immediately being suspended until her contract terminated. She had to give back her hardware right now and wasn't allowed to came back into office.
She hasn't considered working for an agency ever again. I don't know what happened to the wikipedia page.

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v6 profile image
πŸ¦„N BπŸ›‘

One of them had a dispute with his direct business competitor, so he placed a ticket in the agency. He wanted to have the wikipedia page of his competitor manipulated to gain an edge in business. Linda was assigned to it.

WTF man. That's messed up. Wikipedia is a sacred place.