Tag: ETHICS

Microsoft may not be worth as much money as Apple, but according to a new think-tank report, it's way more ethically sound. This year, the corporation earned a spot on Ethisphere's list of the 'World's Most Ethical Companies,' beating out Apple, Facebook, and Google. It's certainly a far cry from the late '90s, when Microsoft faced antitrust trials and accusations of corporate tyranny. But the ...

University of Central Florida professor Richard Quinn has been a professional educator for over 20 years. Despite his decades of experience, Quinn recently delivered an unprecedented lecture that he "hoped [he] would never have to give." Prior to the lecture (which is currently going viral), Quinn had grown concerned about widespread cheating after he recognized an unlikely pattern in his class's ...

Are Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, the two Rutgers University students accused of broadcasting roommate Tyler Clementi shortly before he killed himself, evil people? Kaitlin Sheerin, a junior at the school, recently told NPR, "I would never think of invading my roommate's privacy like that. I think it's sick what they did." But, since the ethical rules of the Internet are still only beginning to be ...

Okay, so Verizon's agreed to pay $90 million to customers who have incurred erroneous data charges over the past three years. But, what can affected users do to make sure they actually receive their cash? In theory, nothing. The company says that it's currently going through its database to find users who should receive refunds, which will apparently appear in the form of credits on their ...

You know those ubiquitous yearbook photo banner ads from Classmates.com? The ones that bait you into clicking by vowing to put you back in touch with your long lost high school buddies? Well, if you've never been tempted to hunt down old homecoming dates, consider yourself lucky, because the site has now been officially declared a scam. Yesterday, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo listed ...

Let's ignore Best Buy's murfing and endless violations of privacy for the moment, and focus on the "deals" it brazenly offers without resorting to tricks or scams (sort of). First, it was $130 to set up a PS3, a task that even our parents could handle. Then, the company generously gave away free copies of Tweetdeck, which is already free. And recently, an eagle-eyed shopper noticed that Best ...

Most of Germany's urban transit system runs on an honor code. In essence, the functionality of an honor system rests on the assumption that people will act as law-abiding citizens, and pay metro or bus fees even in the absence of enforcement. It's an interesting approach to behavioral economics, and one that, like everything else in Germany, seems to work pretty well. Now, though, one German ...

It almost doesn't feel like news anymore, but Best Buy has once again been caught trying to take advantage of uninformed customers. After being caught baiting customers with low advertised prices only to pull a switcheroo, charging $130 to plug in a PS3 and faking low Wii inventories to drive up demand, the latest scandal to hit the big box retailer seems like a minor offense. It appears that the ...

Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute have just created an entirely new synthetic life form in a laboratory, marking a watershed moment that could radically alter the way humans interact with nature. As Wired reports, the achievement is a culmination of over two-years' worth of research, numerous failed attempts and millions of dollars. In March, however, the team injected over a million ...

The launch of the iPad may have opened the door to an entirely new world of media consumption, but it's also opened up a whole new set of questions about how enhanced, e-reader consumer behavior will fit into pre-existing legal frameworks. In his New York Times ethics column, Randy Cohen entertains a particularly compelling question from a reader who asks whether downloading a pirated copy of a ...

Under a barrage of accusations that it gives better reviews to companies that advertise on its site, Yelp has spoken out in staunch defense of its policies. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the review site has published a series of blog posts in which it denies any wrongdoing, and argues that many of the false allegations stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of how the site filters reviews ...

Share Silicon Alley Insider just published a rather lengthy investigation into the origins of Facebook. Specifically, it addresses the allegations that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for his social network from ConnectU, which he had been hired to help code. The report has also uncovered a pair of unsettling anecdotes that paint a less than flattering picture of its founder, including hacking ...

Claudio Agrelli must think that the average Neapolitan is a total scumbag. Why else would he found Partenope City, an online community exclusive to the people of Naples who pledge to live by an altruistic ethical code? The 35-year-old Naples native spoke recently with the BBC, saying that he believes people have forgotten common courtesies like dumping litter in garbage cans instead of on the ...

It's no secret that you're paying twice as much to take your kid to see Miley Cyrus because some jerks are scooping up all the tickets and reselling them. But now, a few "Wiseguys" are learning the true cost of this deceptive business. According to Wired, Wiseguy Tickets and Seats owner Kenneth Lowson, co-owner Kristofer Kirsch, chief financial officer Faisal Nahdi, and programmer Joel Stevenson ...

Google makes about $500 million a year in advertising revenue from deceptive Web sites that target typos, according to New Scientist. It's the result of a trend called "typosquatting," a practice wherein people register domain names that are mere letters away from those of popular sites (e.g., 'Switcjed.com' instead of 'Switched.com'). When somebody hits the wrong key and unintentionally visits ...