Ethics news
Keep up with ethics-related stories appearing in the news.
Below are stories collected from news sources around the web relating to ethics. Click on the links provided to read the stories in full.
We frequently add to our Ethics News stories, so check back often. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed.
nb. Links to new stories are generally to external websites. St James Ethics Centre is not responsible for the content on these sites. Some links may become invalid over time and this is beyond our control.
Ethics without Philosophers (the Appalling State of Affairs in Business)
25 January 2012 - Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
Could someone without a business degree become a marketing consultant? No? Then how is it that people without philosophy degrees are becoming ethics consultants? [1] Is it that people don’t know that Ethics is a branch of Philosophy just as Marketing is a branch of Business? Doubtful.
Is it just the typical male overstatement of one’s expertise? [2] Perhaps. Is it that...
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The ethics of brain boosting
26 January 2012 - Health Canal
Jonathan Wood - The idea of a simple, cheap and widely available device that could boost brain function sounds too good to be true.
electric brain stimulation
Yet promising results in the lab with emerging ‘brain stimulation’ techniques, though still very preliminary, have prompted Oxford neuroscientists to team up with leading ethicists at the University to consider...
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5 Questions: Magnus on the role of research ethics consultations
26 January 2012 - Health Canal
In the past decade, a growing number of academic medical centers have begun offering research ethics consultation services, in which bioethics experts help scientists address the ethical and societal implications of their laboratory and clinical experiments.
Renee Reijo PeraFor instance, an investigator may want advice on the social and cultural ramifications of conducting genetic...
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Nothing ethical in starving the poor
27 January 2012 - The Sydney Morning Herald
There is a growing gap between farmers and consumers. It was a recurring theme in a dozen meetings I had with hundreds of agricultural leaders in Australia recently and mirrors what is happening in the US.
Consumers such as Voiceless founder Brian Sherman have expressed their concerns about how food is produced, in newspapers such as this one. The author and Voiceless patron J.M....
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Australian Ethical: we don’t invest in guns, tobacco or pollution
23 January 2012 - mUmBRELLA
Australian Ethical: we don’t invest in guns, tobacco or pollution
Sydney Communications agency I.D.E.A.S is behind a campaign for Australian Ethical Investment that introduces the new slogan ‘Positive wealth creation’.
The campaign – titled ‘wake up’ – is based on the insight that many people do not know what their superannuation is...
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Wanted: Ethical hackers
30 January 2012 - computer hacking, technology, hactivism
Recently, the website of Ankit Fadia, a well-known ethical hacker, was hacked by another group that goes by the name Team Grey Hat (TGH). The “hactivist” group entered Ankit Fadia’s official site and exposed his credentials, including sensitive data, student details, database credentials (like name, user name & password). In a blog message, TGH also rubbished Fadia as a...
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The WoW economy code of ethics
30 January 2012 - Wow Insider
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Fox Van Allen and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Feed Fox's ego by emailing him or tweeting him at @foxvanallen.
There's nothing more American than the idea of making money off the labor of others. Wall Street was built on it. Presidential campaigns are built on it....
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Buddhism could enlighten Australia and Asian cultures
24 January 2012 - Perth Now
REATING awareness about Buddhism could help to bridge the cultural gap between Asia and Australia, a WA-based monk says.
Vello Väärtnõu, who is the head of Estonian Nyingma Buddhism, said he wanted to bring together the Buddhists in Perth and encourage more people to learn about the tradition.
The monk moved to Perth in 2010 and is now busy organising the first...
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Ethics @ Work: Online piracy legislation is problematic
19 January 2012 - The Jerusalem Post
If you tried to access the English-language Wikipedia on Wednesday, you noticed that for the first time ever it was intentionally blacked out. (If you were clever, you just accessed whatever you needed through the Google archive.) The reason was a protest against legislation pending in the United States that Wikipedia thinks is a threat to the viability of the project. The bill is called the...
Single Player for a Team's Loss?
1 February 2012 - Business News
It is every player's nightmare to make the mistake that ultimately costs their team the game. That nightmare became a reality for Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff and San Francisco 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams whose mistakes in yesterday's National Football League Conference Championship games ultimately cost their teams the opportunity to advance to the Super Bowl. Since these...
Ethical warning looming in U.S. workplaces
23 January 2012 - The Wall Street Journal
If you ever reported something bad at work and got trouble in return, you are not alone.
Last year, nearly 8.8 million Americans felt the sting of workplace retaliation — a 33% increase in negative payback from the year before. That surge, identified by the Ethics Resource Center in its biennial survey of ethics in the workplace, is an ominous trend that strongly suggests that...
The ethics of childhood organ transplants: How would you decide who becomes a recipient?
18 January 2012 - The Washington Post
Yesterday in this space, I wrote about the story of 3-year-old Amelia Rivera, who is facing a life-altering decision about whether she is eligible for an organ transplant.
Her mother has publicized her side — that a doctor at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia told her that because Amelia is “mentally retarded” she should not receive a transplant. More about...
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Selling point was a telling point, brazen but not unethical
25 January 2012 - The Sydney Morning Herald
Just how many Christmas stockings were topped up with the latest book by the Herald and Sun-Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons we will never know. But if not in the many thousands it would not be for lack of trying on his part.
From mid-November until the week before Christmas he mentioned it in his Saturday and Sunday columns five times. I think even he was embarrassed about it...
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The great ethics debate
23 January 2012 - Dawn
Gunny bags, chopped body parts and a kidnapping. Were you sick to your stomach when you read the horrific tale of Shamsul Anwar that recently went viral on social media sites? Were you equally appalled when Facebook status updates and tweets started to suggest the story was a hoax? We really need to ask ourselves: how did we get here?
Ten years ago for a few hours everyday, we could...
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On Ethics in Public Life
23 January 2012 - Huffington Post
The role of ethics in contemporary society is resurgent; its reach sprawling out across the social landscape at what many must find an alarming rate touching capitalism, banking, politics, policing, journalism, our own lives. The notion of ethics has the power to conflate these disparate issues under a more understandable set of parameters and ask more searching questions.
"Is it...
The Observer Ethical Awards calls for the UK public to become citizen scientists to mark 2012 launch
16 January 2012 - The Guardian
To mark the launch of the 2012 Observer Ethical Awards, The Observer is today calling for the UK to turn into a nation of citizen scientists, tracking and recording crucial information on non-native invasive species in their local areas.
At the heart of The Observer Ethical Awards is the idea that change can only happen through people power. The Observer is asking members of the public...
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Cozy ties: Astroturf 'Ethical Oil' and Conservative alliance to promote tar sands expansion
16 January 2012 - rabble.ca
By Emma Pullman
As the Northern Gateway Pipeline Project Joint Review Panel begins hearing over 4,000 comments submitted by community members, First Nations, governments and environmental groups, the tar sands front group EthicalOil.org has launched its latest PR offensive in support of the pipeline. OurDecision.ca, the new astroturf ad campaign, is another dirty PR attempt to undermine...
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Teaching ethics is the latest chapter in U.S. accounting scandals
19 January 2012 - Pasadena Star News
By Steve Scauzillo
An accounting firm performs a questionable audit, blindly accepting inflated revenue values, glossing over the client's "creative financing techniques." Eventually, that company collapses, taking with it the number crunchers, whose reputation is now as worthless as their client's stock.
It's a scenario played out dozens of times in the last 10 years....
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Why is Rupert spending millions undermining national security?
16 January 2012 - Crikey
by Bernard Keane
Rupert Murdoch’s efforts on Twitter so far have included the occasional case of humility. On Friday he stated the bleeding obvious in admitting about Myspace “we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons”.
Investors wondering about whether the 80-year-old mogul from the days of linotype had improved his...
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Forget pirates, the film industry has plundered itself
18 January 2012 - ABC - The Drum
By Greg Jericho
This week Rupert Murdoch has decided to take to Twitter to let us know all about his views on movie piracy.
His tweets have provided some nice nuggets of amusement that have been akin to your father telling you he's heard about this thing called the information superhighway and wanting to know if you have heard of The Google.
The context for his tweets has...
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A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
17 January 2012 - BLOG.reddit
By Jason Harvey
As you have probably heard, there are two pieces of legislation currently pending that we, and others like us, believe seriously threaten the internet. I wanted to take some time to delve into the text of both of these bills, and outline their potential consequences as I am able to understand them. As you can imagine, this is a complex issue, and as a result this is...
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Is animal cruelty illegal but ethical?
10 January 2012 - Canadian Business
By Chris MacDonald
Canads's largest independent chicken-processing company, Maple Lodge Farms, was recently slapped with no fewer than 60 criminal charges related to inhumane treatment of chickens in transport.
This is a good example to continue our exploration of the relationship between ethics and the law. (Two weeks ago we discussed why what's legal isn't always ethical; last...
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Europe's ethical eggs-ample
17 January 2012 - The Australian Broadcasting Corporation
By Peter Singer
FORTY YEARS AGO, I stood with a few other students in a busy Oxford Street, London handing out leaflets protesting the use of battery cages to hold hens. Most of those who took the leaflets did not know that their eggs came from hens kept in cages so small that even one bird - the cages normally housed four - would be unable to fully stretch and flap her wings. The hens...
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Judging judges’ ethics
3 January 2012 - The Hill
By Ronald Goldfarb
A journalist I know questioned a two-bit Maryland legislator who voted for a law affecting property he had a financial interest in. “How about your conflict of interest?” he asked. “I got no conflict with that!” the lawmaker responded.
Alas, the American public has come to expect that kind of ethical blind spot in its legislators. But...
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Ethical Analysis of the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign
10 January 2012 - Climate Progress
by Donald A. Brown, cross-posted from the Penn State Climate Ethics Blog
Over the next few weeks, ClimateEthics will take a deeper look at what has been referred to as the “climate change disinformation campaign” through an ethical lens. Although ClimateEthics has examined these issues briefly before, see: An Ethical Analysis of the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign: Is...
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The big society must be grounded in goodness
3 January 2012 - The Guardian
By Anthony Seldon
By the end of 2011, commentators had reached a consensus that David Cameron had failed to produce a coherent domestic agenda, beyond George Osborne's strategy for the recession and Michael Gove's activism in schools. The "big society", many concluded, had lost its way and should be given a quiet burial, confined to the dustbin policies of history, like Tony...
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"Stress" Taking a Heavy Toll on Compliance and Ethics Professionals
10 January 2012 - The Sacramento Bee
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 10, 2012 -- On-the-job stress leading to sleepless nights and thoughts of quitting work
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At a time when the public's attention is focused on the need for greater corporate integrity, the majority of compliance and ethics professionals report that they often wake during the middle of the night with job-related worries...
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World needs economic ethics, new rules, pope says
9 January 2012 - Chicago Tribune
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The global crisis shows that the world needs economic ethics and new rules so the financial system benefits all humanity, Pope Benedict said on Monday in his keynote speech for the New Year.
In a wide-ranging address, the pontiff also called for the end of violence across North Africa and the Middle East, and denounced attacks against...
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Plastic surgeons 'ethically and morally obliged' to replace suspect breast implants
3 January 2012 - Herald Sun
PLASTIC surgeons who gave women suspect breast implants have an "ethical and moral obligation" to remove the implants at their own expense, the leader of a British surgeons' organization said.
The French Poly Implants Protheses (PIP) implants - given to 40,000 women in Britain including about 3,000 after cancer surgery - were priced so low they were "too good to be true,...
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Do accountants act in the public interest? Not always
6 January 2012 - The Conversation
By Robert Walker
According to the profession’s code of ethics, “a distinguishing mark of the accountancy profession is its acceptance of the responsibility to act in the public interest.” That is, not exclusively to satisfy the needs of an individual client or employer.
One wonders if that responsibility was front of mind when two partners from the Perth firm of...
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Should science centers and museums adopt ethical guidelines regarding corporate sponsorships? If so, what should these guidelines be?
3 January 2012 - Association of Science Technology Centres
By Emily Schuster
This is an extended discussion of the question that appears in the Viewpoints department of the January/February 2012 issue of Dimensions magazine.
Science centers and museums should adopt overarching gift acceptance and ethical fundraising policies that should be approved by their governing boards. In addition, in order to ensure accountability and informed...
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A Good Day for Ethics
24 December 2011 - Psychology Today
By Mitchell M. Handelsman
Early in my blogging career I wrote an entry called "A Bad Day for Ethics" in which I recounted several depressing news stories about academic and political dishonesty. I found that finding articles about bad behavior and decisions was easy, and wrote other entries about news accounts of issues like plagiarism and shady business practices. In the last...
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Ordering the vegetarian meal? There’s more animal blood on your hands
16 December 2011 - The Conversation
By Mike Archer AM
The ethics of eating red meat have been grilled recently by critics who question its consequences for environmental health and animal welfare. But if you want to minimise animal suffering and promote more sustainable agriculture, adopting a vegetarian diet might be the worst possible thing you could do.
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NSW Labor to get lessons on ethics
12 January 2012 - The Daily Telegraph
By Andrew Clennell
AFTER an underpants dance scandal, a minister being done for pornography and with a federal MP on the ropes over prostitute allegations, NSW Labor MPs will learn ethics.
Labor leader John Robertson and the party's state headquarters are joining forces on Monday at parliament to give an all-day ethics seminar to state Labor MPs.
Mr Robertson confirmed...
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Ethical fears over Pfizer deal with pharmacists
20 December 2011 - Sydney Morning Herald
By Kate Hagan
A COALITION of 60 health groups has described a deal for pharmacists to promote Pfizer brand drugs as ''highly questionable'', saying it could result in patients paying more for medication.
The chief executive of the Consumer Health Forum, Carol Bennett, said the deal - under which Pfizer pays pharmacies $7 for every patient they sign up to ''support programs'' for...
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Ethics, anthropologists and anthropolitics in the wild, wild west
8 December 2011 - Crikey
By Bob Gosford
Over at AASNet (the Australian Anthropological Society web discussion group) a recent thread that dragged a hangnail across the raw ethical and professional nerves of many anthropologists caught attention. This thread raised issues of particular relevance for those anthropologists that provide consultancy services — particularly those working on mining...
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Taking an ethical approach to super
14 December 2011 - Sydney Morning Herald
By Scott Rochfort
There will be at least one former Babcock & Brown executive steering clear of debt instruments for the foreseeable future.
The managing director of ''Australia's first Islamic wealth manager'', Talal Yassine, yesterday announced plans to launch a superannuation product by the end of March.
''It's not only an Islamic product. It's an ultra ultra...
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Drone-Ethics Briefing: What a Leading Robot Expert Told the CIA
15 December 2011 - The Atlantic
By Patrick Lin
Last month, philosopher Patrick Lin delivered this briefing about the ethics of drones at an event hosted by In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture-capital arm. It's a thorough and unnerving survey of what it might mean for the intelligence service to deploy different kinds of robots.
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Ethics tussle beggars belief
3 December 2011 - Adele Horin, Sydney Moring Herald
Ethics classes in schools are not safe yet. In a backroom deal between the O'Farrell government and the Christian Democrats, the fate of the classes may lie with a Legislative Council committee weighted with right-wing Christians.
The government has given the committee the task of examining the objectives, curriculum, implementation and effectiveness of the ethics classes, and...
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Ethical Christmas gifts that make a difference
9 December 2011 - Rupert Jones and Patrick Collinson, The Guardian
This Christmas why not give vouchers that lend cash to lift entrepreneurs from poverty; decorations that help a disabled community in Tanzania; or even a share in a Bristol bookshop?
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Ethics classes too difficult to compete with; they must be destroyed
1 December 2011 - Jeremy Sear, Pure Poison, Crikey
NSW citizen David Hutt doesn’t like non-religious ethics classes. Particularly if they’re “non-judgemental”. Because ethics is all about judging people, and telling them whether they’re “right” or “wrong” according to the vagaries of an ancient text: if you don’t believe in an invisible man in the sky who’ll judge you when you...
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Record 64% Rate Honesty, Ethics of Members of Congrss Low
12 December 2011 - Jeffrey Jones, Gallup
Ratings of nurses, pharmacists, and medical doctors most positive
PRINCETON, NJ -- Sixty-four percent of Americans rate the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress as "low" or "very low," tying the record "low"/"very low" rating Gallup has measured for any profession historically. Gallup has asked Americans to rate the honesty and...
Should families have the final say on organ donation?
10 December 2011 - Simon Longstaff, Sydney Morning Herald
Almost half say no when the time comes, despite their dying relative's wishes.
Read more: http...
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Ethical behaviour more than just about following rules
30 November 2011 - The Sydney Morning Herald
Public trust has been eroded, but there is a way to remedy this.
If all the plastering of codes of ethics and value statements on the walls of meeting rooms in corporate and government organisations is anything to go by, we may well draw the conclusion we are living in unprecedentedly ethical times.
Mission statements promoting the virtues of equal opportunity, openness and...
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Inquiry threatens ethics class experiment
12 November 2011 - The Sydney Morning Herald
A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry will examine whether ethics classes in NSW schools should be abolished less than a year after they began, prompting accusations of a deal between the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, and the Christian Democratic MP Fred Nile.
The inquiry, which will report by June, will be conducted by a committee dominated by conservative MPs, including the Liberals David Clarke and...
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