Ethics in IT — Week 4 · Module 13
Ethics of IT Organizations
Workforce structure. Outsourcing. Gigs. Whistleblowing. The hardware lifecycle. The choices an organization makes about people are ethical choices.
13 slides ~13 minutes Reynolds Ch. 10
Slide 2 of 13
"The organization's code of ethics is only as strong as the person who enforces it."
Five organizational practices, all legal in most circumstances, all indefensible under professional ethics codes when they cross specific lines.
Workforce
Contingent labor, H-1B, classification
Offshoring
Cost vs. obligation, labor standards
Gig platforms
Worker classification, dependency
Whistleblowing
Loyalty vs. responsibility
Plus: green computing — the lifecycle that begins with a server purchase and ends with a child sorting circuit boards in an open burn site.
Slide 3 of 13 · 01 / 05
Contingent Workers and Workforce Structure
Same work, different paychecks, different rights.
What it is
Workers hired on temporary, contract, or part-time basis without the full benefits and protections of permanent employees. Common in IT: contract devs, consultants, outsourced support, gig technical work.
Where ethics enters
When organizations use the structure to avoid obligations they would otherwise have to people doing the same work. Same desk, same role, different package.
"Independent contractor" does not change what the worker does. It changes who pays the payroll tax, who carries the risk if work slows, and who has standing to complain when something goes wrong.
The ethical question: did the organization choose this structure to serve the worker (flexibility, autonomy) or to externalize cost onto someone who did not choose the arrangement?
Slide 4 of 13 · H-1B
The H-1B Visa: Stated Purpose vs. Documented Patterns
Stated purpose
Allow US employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations to address genuine skill shortages.
Documented misuse
Some employers use H-1B to reduce labor costs rather than fill genuine gaps. Some require US workers to train their H-1B replacements as a severance condition.
The legal/ethical gap: both practices above are legal in most circumstances. Neither is defensible under any major professional ethics code. The law sets the floor; the code sets the ceiling.
A manager weighing an H-1B hire is making a labor-cost decision and a labor-standards decision. The two are not the same decision — but the spreadsheet only tracks one of them.
Slide 5 of 13 · 02 / 05
Offshore Outsourcing: Who Bears Which Cost
StakeholderPotential benefitPotential harm
US organizationLower labor cost, global talent, 24-hour coverageQuality risk, IP exposure, reputational damage
US workersSome new oversight, PM, strategy rolesJob displacement, skills atrophy, wage pressure
Offshore workersEmployment, skill development, higher relative wagesLower labor standards possible; potential exploitation
SocietyCheaper tech products, global developmentConcentrated unemployment in specific communities, tax base erosion
Outsourcing is not inherently unethical. Outsourcing to a vendor that violates labor standards because the price is lower is. They are not the same decision.
Slide 6 of 13 · The manager's job
Four Obligations of the Outsourcing Decision
1. Transparency
Conduct the decision openly. Workers facing displacement deserve honest communication, not silence followed by surprise.
2. Full stakeholder review
Consider all parties — not just the cost line. Quality, IP, security, and community impact are real costs even when they don't hit the spreadsheet.
3. Fair treatment of displaced workers
Severance, retraining, transition support. The cost of the change should not land entirely on the people losing their jobs.
4. Vendor due diligence
Ensure offshore operations meet ethical labor standards. The price gap cannot come from labor abuse you outsourced to look away from.
The point is not to refuse to outsource. It is to make outsourcing a decision the organization can defend in front of all its stakeholders — not just the board.
Slide 7 of 13 · 03 / 05
The Gig Economy: Classification as Strategy
Independent contractor or economically dependent employee?
Platform argument
Workers choose engagements, set hours, operate as businesses. The platform is a marketplace, not an employer.
Critic argument
Many workers are economically dependent on a single platform. Classification is a legal fiction designed to avoid benefit obligations.
The control test: when a platform decides what work a worker can take, sets the price, controls account access, and deactivates without due process — but calls them a contractor — the classification describes a business outcome, not the actual employment relationship.
Slide 8 of 13 · When ethics becomes law
California AB5 (2019) and the Migration of the Debate
AB5 (2019)
Codified the ABC test for worker classification. Made many gig workers presumptively employees unless three specific conditions are met.
Prop 22 (2020)
Voter-approved carve-out for app-based drivers. Multiple legal challenges. Pattern of legislation, litigation, voter override.
Federal landscape
DOL classification rules updated in 2024. NLRB position has shifted. State and federal frameworks no longer aligned.
The IT manager's obligation: if you rely heavily on gig labor, ensure the classification accurately reflects the working relationship and is not used primarily to avoid obligations to workers. The ethics is not waiting for the courts to catch up.
Slide 9 of 13 · 04 / 05
Whistleblowing: Loyalty vs. Responsibility
When internal channels fail, professional codes give an answer.
ACM Code 3.1
"Report violations of this Code to appropriate authorities."
IEEE Code
"Report unethical or illegal practices to appropriate authorities."
SE Code (Joint)
Disclose work that endangers public safety to appropriate authorities.
Legal protections: Sarbanes-Oxley protects whistleblowers at public companies reporting securities fraud. The False Claims Act provides protection and financial incentives for reporting fraud against the federal government. Retaliation is common despite the protections.
Slide 10 of 13 · Reference case
Frances Haugen (Facebook / Meta, 2021)
A reference case for whistleblowing analysis under professional codes.
What she disclosed
Internal Facebook research documents to the Wall Street Journal and the SEC. Documents showed Facebook had identified significant harms — including Instagram's impact on teen mental health — that were not disclosed publicly or to regulators.
Her ethical justification
Internal channels had failed. Concerns raised through proper channels were dismissed. External disclosure was necessary to force corrective action that internal escalation could not produce.
The tension
She violated her employment agreement and confidentiality obligations. Whether the violation was ethically justified turns on whether the harm she was disclosing was severe enough to override those obligations.
Most whistleblowers did not plan to become whistleblowers. They tried internal channels first. When those failed, they faced a choice between professional loyalty and professional responsibility. The codes say which comes first.
Slide 11 of 13 · 05 / 05
Green Computing: The Full Lifecycle
Procurement to disposal. The ethics is in the chain.
Procurement
EPEAT-certified hardware, supplier labor standards, conflict-mineral due diligence
Operation
Data-center PUE, server consolidation, virtualization, renewable power sourcing
Refresh
Extended device lifecycles, secondary-market reuse, repair vs. replace
Disposal
R2 / e-Stewards certified recyclers, data destruction, no informal exports
Each is a measurable practice choice. The fact that the disposal contract was awarded to a third party does not make the chain disappear. The ethics travels with the hardware.
Slide 12 of 13 · What gets exported
E-Waste: The Cost That Lands Elsewhere
What is in the box
Lead, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, brominated flame retardants. Toxic in soil, groundwater, and air when burned.
Where it ends up
Much of the world's e-waste flows to developing countries where informal recycling exposes workers and communities to these toxins without protection.
The technology lifecycle that begins with a server purchase in a US data center may end with a child in Ghana hand-sorting circuit boards in an open burn site.
The ethical reality: the IT organization that replaces its entire fleet every three years for performance reasons and ships the old hardware to an uncertified recycler has made a choice. It chose not to account for the cost because the cost lands on someone else.
Slide 13 of 13
Module 13 Takeaways
Six anchors for organizational ethics in IT.
1Worker classification is a strategic choice, not a description. Same desk + same role + different rights = the structure was chosen.
2H-1B can address genuine skill shortage or extract labor cost. The codes care about which one you're doing.
3Outsourcing is a business decision; outsourcing to a labor-standards-violating vendor because the price is lower is an ethical decision.
4Gig classification: when the platform controls work, price, and account, the classification describes the desired outcome, not the relationship.
5Whistleblowing is recognized by ACM, IEEE, and SE codes. Internal channels first; external disclosure when internal fails and harm is significant.
6The hardware lifecycle does not end at the loading dock. The toxins travel. The cost lands somewhere even when the spreadsheet stops tracking.
Next up: ETH-14 — the four codes themselves. ACM, IEEE, PMI, AITP. Where they agree, where they conflict, and how to apply them when an actual decision is in front of you.