What are opinions of seeing sensitive data on a hard disk? 4

[apcandmacuser]

Hi:
Suppose you worked on PC's and a computer came in for repair with a bad HD. The customer also asked you to transfer any recoverable data to the new HD. I presume no one has a problem if some illegal activity was discovered and it was reported to the authorities. But what about if the machine belonged to the spouse of a good friend and on it was discovered a nearly year long trail of internet (& live) dating to find a new spouse - and you know your friend doesn't have a clue. What would you do? Would you talk or remain silent?

 

[kippy13]

1. I did not call anyone names.
2. I did look at the posts, I did not say you posted them in the wrong forum, I mearly was asking if you had posted them in the most relevant forum.
3. Theres no need to be sexist(especially since this is an ethics forum as you keep pointing out.)
4. I was trying to defend the lack of response to your technical posts, sometimes posts dont get answered in here for whatever reason, just bad luck I suppose. Its a free service after all and there is no obligation on anyone to answer or help answer anything.
5.There is now another response to your question about the Mac problem.
6. I have contributed to these forums for some time now and generally find them and excellent resource to learn from and indeed to share knowledge.
7. Can you please tell me what my attitude is ?
8. If you took a look at some of my posts you'll see that there is nothing wrong with my thinking its fair when it needs to be and as objective as it can.


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[Murgle]

apcandmacuser

>>In our organization, a person with KIPPY's attitude wouldn't last long

In our organisation, a person with your attitude wouldn't get a job in the first place. A lack of manners and professionalism obviously doesn't matter in your organisation - I am astounded at the tone of your posts. If you think someone has helped you, tell them. If you disagree with someones reply, thank them for their opinion, and if possible point out why you think differently, and be respectful. You will find that people are much more responsive to this than to bully-boy (I suspect you are a he) tactics.

Ahhhhh, I see you have a machine that goes Bing!

 

[kippy13]

"With the large community of self-professed technical gurus on this site, I expected some assistance on the techical questions, which I did not get"
And your talking about manners! You did not get any help-get over it-I dont think theres any "Self professed technical gurus" on the site.
"It reminded me of the years I spent in the Corporate environment, where if you needed assistance with a 'work-related' problem, it was a challenge to hunt down someone who was willing to lend a hand. Conversely, if some gossip were circulating or other 'non-work-related' issue arose, almost everyone was anxious to jump in."
Are you accusing everyone in tek-tips of being a gossip monger?? Thats what it looks like. I dont think that thats acceptable-hence the later posts and as you like to call bully boy stuff-I prefer to call defensive stance.
I think if you'll see my other 300+ posts you'll see that in general, If someone has helped me, I'll let them know and conversly if I have helped someone its nice to get some feedback.
There are very few occasions where I have had to voice my opinion on anything other than technical issues but if someone is out of line, I have no problem in telling them that I think they are, as I am doing with you right now.


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[Murgle]

Kippy13

You do realise that my last post was directed towards apcandmacuser?

Ahhhhh, I see you have a machine that goes Bing!

 

[kippy13]

Sorry Murgle, However I still stick by my last post in regards apcandmacuser.
Thanks for agreeing with me.

"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[Murgle]

No problem

Ahhhhh, I see you have a machine that goes Bing!

 

[Onyxpurr]

apcandmacuser

I would suggest retracting some of those statement sif I were you. One of the reasons I love this site is everyone's ability not to take opinions and ideas personally. I may disagree with someone, but I won't resort to putting them on the defensive for it.

And in the posts I have put out there and responded to, the only ones that usually didn't get responses were ones people didn't understand or couldn't help out with. Perhaps you could have, more appropriately, asked WHY you didn't get a response politely, than demand.

My $.02

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

"With the large community of self-professed technical gurus on this site, I expected some assistance on the techical questions, which I did not get"

Maybe its just it is just me but I didn't take this negatively. I took it as another way of saying "With the large community of self-professed technical gurus on this site, I thought my technical questions would have gotten answered first but they didn't"

Personally that is how I took it. I can see how other would take it wrong but I try to give the benifit of the doubt since we can't interpret other communication hints like facial expressions, tone of voice, etc.

But that aside posts by kippy13 "What are you on?" and "you need to take a look as to why u couldnt fix ur technical issues urself instead of looking through files of a sensitive nature!" did not constructively help and just fueled a upcoming flame war.

Obviously kippy13 dos not think apcandmacuser should have seen anything on the computer.

Personally I don't think "Say nothing, nothing but harm will come of it" is true. How would you feel 5 years down the track when your friend comes to you and says he found out his wife has been cheating on him for years and they've been unhappy all that time. Just my opinion. I have friends that openly admit they would rather just ignore the situation/wouldn't want to know. I would still tell them just because they are not in a healthy relationship. If they decide to ignore it after being told that is their decision. But friends that don't do anything to fix a problem they are in after being told of it and offered support I don't deal with that problem anymore until they are ready to face it. ie if they complain that their marrage/relationship is going bad I tell them that I don't want to hear about it until they are ready to do something about it.

 

[Onyxpurr]

I think it was this line that got under my skin:

It reminded me of the years I spent in the Corporate environment, where if you needed assistance with a 'work-related' problem, it was a challenge to hunt down someone who was willing to lend a hand. Conversely, if some gossip were circulating or other 'non-work-related' issue arose, almost everyone was anxious to jump in.

 

[Dollie]

I wanted to jump in here and say that since I first started browsing these forums a few years ago, I have found nothing but the best advice, help and assistance with problems and questions.

People here generally have a very professional attitude, and the breadth of knowledge is astounding.

If at first you don't receive an answer to your question, ask again. No one takes offense to that.

What people DO take offense to is insults that do not relate to the topic that come from short-sighted people who seem to have encountered a foul substance in their breakfast cereal.

 

[kippy13]

All above,
Fair enough, I may have overstepped the mark in a couple of instances. Apologies for that. However some of whats been said by apcandmauser really gets under my skin. As a person who uses my own tome to help out people on this site I fee it insulting to be told the above.


"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[bluedragon2]

apcandmacuser,

One thing I did notice about your technical posts were that you gave no feedback to the answers you were given. If they are on track or off track, you should give feedback. If I am going through posts and I find answers given with no feedback, I will run past them because I do not know if the previous answers helped or not.



Blue

If I wasn't Blue, I would just be a Dragon...

 

[wacobd]

I have posted some questions on some of the forums here and not gotten any replies. Does that make me mad or upset, Not at all. We may all be a diverse group of technical workers, but may not have seen something that someone is asking about. Now if this were a Cisco, Microsoft, Linux, Unix, Sun (you get the idea) exclusive board and then I did not get any answers on that particular topic, that would be a different story then.

All in all, we are all really "volunteering" our time to help make this a great community and hopefully help our fellow co-workers with ideas and solutions in the process. I am fortunate enough to be able to jump on this site anytime I want to at work to help in researching problems and even helping out with other people’s problems if I am able.

Happy New Year everyone

 

[gbaughma]

I have people ask me at times, since I do consulting for banks, if I can see how much they have in their accounts.

Answer: Yes, I could (if I wanted to). But No, I don't.

It's data. It's all ones and zeros. It needs to be transferred into a matching set of ones and zeros on another storage device. End of story.

The problem with getting in the middle of relationships is this: Let's look at a couple of scenarios.

You approach the person who's been looking for a new spouse. Outcome: You lose; you peeked, you can't be trusted.

You approach the person who's clueless. Outcome: It blows up in a confrontation, you get dragged into the middle of it. You can't be trusted. Perhaps you're even accused of fabricating.

You confront both of them. They work it out. Outcome: You lose; you peeked, you can't be trusted, and now neither of them are talking to you.

You say nothing. They break up. Outcome: You might feel a little guilty, but you weren't going to repair their relationship by bringing up your findings.

Obviously, there's deeper-rooted problems if someone is seriously shopping around for another spouse. Or, perhaps you're reading too much into the situation. <chuckle> It reminds me of a line I once used on my (now ex-) wife. She saw me looking at another woman. I said &quot;Hey, just because I already bought a station wagon doesn't mean I can't test-drive a 'vette!&quot; (No, that wasn't the reason she's my ex, and it was said in fun). The point is, it's not your problem. It's theirs. They have to work through it; you're not a marriage counselor.

--Greg
&quot;In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify it's owner.&quot;

 

[Stella740pl]

Greg, I agree with you completely.

The integrity of the data is your business. The integrity of your friend's spouse isn't. (Same goes for his bank account balance, etc.) Being there for your friend shouldn't mean meddling with his marrige without being asked to do so.

(And I've heard another one: &quot;If I'm on a diet, it doesn't mean I can't read menu!&quot;.)

This thread was started 2 months ago, so apcandmacuser, what did you decide to do?

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

So by your logic if I find out one friend is stealling from another friend I shouldn't say anything but let this go on happening?


Hope I've been helpful,
Wayne Francis

If you want to get the best response to a question, please check out FAQ222-2244 first

 

[Stella740pl]

Stealing is a criminal activity, looking for a new spouse isn't, so the example is not completely appropriate.

Although even then I would think twice before bringing it up. I would first make sure completely that one friend doesn't actually allow the other friend to take this stuff, or that he/she didn't ask to store it here, and now takes it back, or something else isn't going on (One friend is a kleptomaniac? Or they are not just friends now? Or something more complex?). And even after that, unless the other friend starts to look for this stuff and says something to me, I would be very careful with it, if all that he/she takes is a lipstick or a fancy pen. I might say, half jokingly, &quot;Oh, can I use <the thing> too, after him/her? I also like it&quot;. If money is taken, I would have to need more time to think, how to bring it up, and only if I am absolutely sure.

 

[Onyxpurr]

Stealing is a criminal activity, looking for a new spouse isn't,

Depends on who you're talking to. I admit, I'm a religious person by nature and both of those are on the Top 10.

Plus personally, I'd much prefer a friend to steal my stuff, then my husband look for a new spouse. I actually think the latter is more heinous than the first.

Just my $.02

 

[Stella740pl]

I'd much prefer a friend to steal my stuff, then my husband look for a new spouse.

Well, I might prefer this, too, but this is not an ethical problem in question, and not even a matter of my peference; if it happens, it happens. Also, I am not sure if I would prefer to find out about either one from a friend, or to find out at all.

I actually think the latter is more heinous than the first.

More hurtful, of course. More heinous, not sure. Top 10? Well, yes, but some of those 10 are not up to us, mortal people to meddle with.

Your friend and his wife might have their issues, and it's not up to you to resolve them or to dissolve them. Maybe it was not what it looks like, or maybe she would decide she is better off with your friend after all, and he might actually be happier if he never finds out, or if he finds out from her and no one else would know. I wouldn't be surprised also, if your friend trusts his wife more than he trusts you. And if you are so moral, would you tell his wife if your friend is cheating on her?

And last, and this one is on the topic.
What I was actually trying to say in my previous posts was not to discuss which is more serious crime, or what I would personally prefer, or anything else.
Just this: whether you are hired as an IT consultant, or a marriage counselor, or asked your opinion as a friend, act accordingly. Don't try to act all roles at once, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong (and it sure doesn't belong in your friend's marriage if neither of the spouses talked about their problems to you), and don't try to play God.

 

[Onyxpurr]

I think ultimately this really is a decision for you to decide.

A lot of people have different opinions about this because regardless it IS an ethical and moral question.

If you're personal morals and belief system allows for cheating on your spouse, then this really wouldn't be an issue.

Not to make light of the subject, because it really isn't. My friend and I have been having this same dicussion with no resolution. However, one thing we do agree upon is approaching that friend (not the wife) and say, &quot;Hey, I noticed that you've been dating other people, and I really don't think it's fair to your wife. I'm hear if you need to talk, but I feel uncomfortable when I know these activities are going on and you're wife is involved. I really think that you should talk to her or get some counseling.&quot; (Using the I feel...when you...please do technique)