Forbes Lying Is Good For You

"If I told you lying was good for you, you probably wouldn’t believe me. But trust me--I’m not lying.

Simply put, we lie because it works. When we do it well, we get what we want."

"What's more, we lie all the time. In 2002, Robert Feldman, a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, conducted a study in which he secretly videotaped student’s conversations with strangers. After the fact, he had the students examine the videotapes and identify the untruths. On average, they claim to have told three lies per ten minutes of conversation."

Psychology Today The real truth about lying

"Everyday lies are really part of the fabric of social life," says DePaulo, a professor at the University of Virginia. While some lies damage relationships and destroy trust, other fibs fulfill important interpersonal functions, like smoothing over awkward situations or protecting fragile egos.

But how often do people lie, and when do they do it? To find out, DePaulo and colleagues asked 77 college students and 70 community members to keep a diary detailing each lie they told."

• "Community members lied in one-fifth of their social interactions; students, one-third.
• Lying was more common in phone calls than in face-to-face chats.
• One lie in seven was discovered--as far as the liars could tell.
• A tenth of the lies were merely exaggerations, while 60 percent were outright deceptions. Most of the rest were subtle lies, often of omission.
• More than 70 percent of liars would tell their lies again."

Science News Online Deception Detection

""Is he lying?" Odds are, you'll never know. Although people have been communicating with one another for tens of thousands of years, more than 3 decades of psychological research have found that most individuals are abysmally poor lie detectors. In the only worldwide study of its kind, scientists asked more than 2,000 people from nearly 60 countries, "How can you tell when people are lying?" From Botswana to Belgium, the number-one answer was the same: Liars avert their gaze.

"This is . . . the most prevalent stereotype about deception in the world," says Charles Bond of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, who led the research project. And yet gaze aversion, like other commonly held stereotypes about liars, isn't correlated with lying at all, studies have shown. Liars don't shift around or touch their noses or clear their throats any more than truth tellers do."

Wired News Lying Makes Brain Work Harder

"Brain scans show that the brains of people who are lying look very different from those of people who are telling the truth, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, not only sheds light on what goes on when people lie but may also provide new technology for lie detecting, the researchers said.

"There may be unique areas in the brain involved in deception that can be measured with fMRI," said Dr. Scott Faro, director of the Functional Brain Imaging Center at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia."

The Seattle Times Exxon's quarterly revenue equals $45 million an hour

"More than a billion dollars a day, $45 million an hour, almost $340 for every living American — that's what Exxon Mobil reported in third-quarter revenue Thursday.

For the oil giant, that translated to $9.9 billion in net income.

The financial results drew outrage from politicians and consumer advocates who are suspicious of historically high U.S. gasoline prices.

Others, however, said the company was simply following the rules of free enterprise and reaping a bounty for high-risk investments in oil exploration in often politically unstable regions of the world."

The New York Times Strong Profits Put Oil Giants on Defensive
[requires 'free' registration]

"A sudden interruption in oil supplies sent prices and profits skyrocketing, prompting Exxon's chief executive to call a news conference right after his company announced that it had chalked up record earnings.

"I am not embarrassed," he said. "This is no windfall."

That was January 1974, a few months after Arab oil producers cut back on supplies and imposed their short-lived embargo on exports to the United States. Oil executives, including J. K. Jamieson, Exxon's chief executive at the time, were put on the defensive, forced to justify their soaring profits while the nation was facing its first energy crisis."

Washington Post Oil Doesn't Want Focus on Big Profit

"Grumbling already has begun on Capitol Hill: Last month, one senator proposed a windfall-profit tax on oil conglomerates, and yesterday, House Republicans warned energy companies against price gouging.

To deflect the damage, the energy industry is relying on an ad campaign that was escalating even before hurricanes Katrina and Rita blitzed Gulf Coast petroleum refineries. The print and television ads are designed to educate consumers and lawmakers with a "we're all in this together" tone."

Convenience Store News Oil Refineries' Huge Profits Predate Big Storms

"While gasoline shortages from hurricanes Katrina and Rita have caused some price spikes, DenverPost.com reported refiners' gross profit margins have been climbing steadily for the past year, long before the hurricanes hit. A Denver Post analysis shows that gross profit margins on gasoline at the nation's refineries have more than tripled from about $7 a barrel in September 2004 to $22.77 on Tuesday."

"According to the DenverPost.com , energy analysts and economists say refiners have been able to increase margins for two main reasons: limited refining capacity that can cause spot shortages of gasoline and lack of competition in the refining sector, such as big mergers that brought together companies such as Exxon and Mobil, Chevron and Texaco, and Conoco and Phillips have reduced competition. "

Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy & Environment Program No Competition: Oil Industry Mergers Provide Higher Profits, Leave Consumers with Fewer Choices [2001]

"The five companies with vertically integrated market power enjoyed significantly higher profits in both upstream (exploration and production) and downstream (refining and marketing) domestic operations. Exxon-Mobil enjoyed 2000 income 146% higher in upstream and 171% higher in downstream compared to 1999.A combined Chevron-Texaco merger enjoyed upstream income 220% higher and downstream 23% higher. Phillips-Tosco had upstream income 327% higher and downstream income 227% higher. Marathon had upstream income rise by 126% and downstream income rise 108%. BP Amoco-Arco had global upstream income increase 141% and downstream income increase 166%. Since these companies are enjoying significant income increases in every sector, this indicates that OPEC’s influence is not a major factor in the ability of the top five corporations to affect domestic gasoline prices."

Netimperative Email and text drives families apart- survey

"Britons are communicating more frequently than ever, but many feel that the rise of text-based digital services has made communication with friends and family less personal, according to a new survey.

Internet service provider PlusNet found that one third of people in the UK feel that their relationships with friends and family have suffered, because they don’t physically talk with each other enough."

ClickZ Internet Edges Out Family Time More Than TV Time

"Internet use cuts into American TV consumption significantly less than it affects average time spent with family and friends, according to a recent study by the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS)."

"or the average respondent, an hour of time online reduces the amount of time spent with family more than twice as much (23.5 minutes) as it limits daily TV viewing (10 minutes). This amounts to 70 minutes less time spent per day with family, versus c. 30 minutes less time watching television. The study also found the average surfer gets 8.5 minutes less sleep per day due to time spent online."

redux [01.15.04]
MSNBC Internet 'geek' image shattered

"The findings of the first World Internet Project report present an image of the average Netizen that contrasts with the stereotype of the loner "geek" who spends hours of his free time on the Internet and rarely engages with the real world.

Instead, the typical Internet user is an avid reader of books and spends more time engaged in social activities than the non-user, it says. And, television viewing is down among some Internet users by as much as five hours per week compared with Net abstainers, the study added."

redux [11.26.01]
New Scientist Internet users more chic than geek

"Far from being friendless "nerds", internet users lead more sociable lives than non-surfers, according to new research in the UK.

A survey of 2500 randomly selected Britons revealed that internet users are more likely to belong to a community group, voluntary organisation or to go to church regularly. They also tend to be better paid and more educated than non-users.

There is a huge divide between those who surf and those who don't, says Andrew Oswald at Warwick University, who carried out the study. But contrary to popular opinion surfers are not slouched over their computer all day, he says: "They simply watch less television."

redux [08.09.01]
SiliconValley.Com Revisiting isolation and its link to the Internet

"As with the re-examination of first HomeNet families, the study of the "new" newcomers found Internet use was linked to more social involvement and psychological well-being. Kraut noted a "rich get richer" effect, where the Net appears to amplify one's innate social tendencies. Those who were extroverts were more likely than their introverted brethren to leverage the new medium to make more friends.

What is to account for this stunning turnabout? My guess is that what changed in the intervening years is the Net itself. It has more social tools, more avenues for personal connections, -- more of everything people need in order to thrive."

redux [07.23.01]
USA Today Study: Net use doesn't increase depression, after all

"Using the Internet at home doesn't make people more depressed and lonely after all.

A new, longer follow-up from a study that linked Web use to poor mental health -- heavily publicized three years ago -- shows that most bad effects have disappeared.

"Either the Internet has changed, or people have learned to use it more constructively, or both," says the study leader, psychologist Robert Kraut of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh."

redux [06.21.01]
Pew Internet and American Life Project Teenage Life Online: The rise of the instant-message generation and the Internet's impact on friendships and family relationships

"The Internet is the telephone, television, game console, and radio wrapped up in one for most teenagers and that means it has become a major "player" in many American families. Teens go online to chat with their friends, kill boredom, see the wider world, and follow the latest trends. Many enjoy doing all those things at the same time during their online sessions. Multitasking is their way of life. And the emotional hallmark of that life is the enthusiasm for the new ways the Internet lets them connect with friends, expand their social networks, explore their identities, and learn new things."

redux [10.25.00]
Powazek.Com on weblogs, the press, and changing the world

"I think all this hooey is simply public self-expression. And it's a good thing. If it makes you happy to call it a blog, go for it. You could call it a desk for all I care. Just keep doing it. I believe, now more that ever, that all this self-expression is going to change the world.

Haven't you noticed? It already has. How many people do you know who you've never met? Or, how many people have you met online? How much has being online changed your perceptions and ideas? Where do you go when you need to connect with other people? How much of your time is spent conversing with people who aren't in the same room with you? Where do you get your music? Your fun? Your ideas? Your ... faith?

Now think about life before you got online. See the difference?

Put simply, expressing yourself online is a gift to the web, because it lets strangers see the world through your eyes, if only for a moment. And if we all did that a little more, I think the world would be a more tolerant place."

redux [02.21.00]
Alertbox Does the Internet Make Us Lonely?

"In assessing the impact of the Internet, the question is not whether it replaces (fully or partly) some other forms of communication and social contact. Because the Internet adds its own new forms of communication and social contact. For example, people may well attend fewer meetings and events outside the house and yet feel connected to a community of others who "meet" on a much more regular basis online.

The question is whether the new lifestyle is enjoyable and whether it nourishes humans or causes them damage. There is certainly a risk that some people get overly caught up in chat rooms and role playing, but a different kind of study is needed to assess this problem."

Red Herring Iran Tightens Web Filters

"Civil liberties advocates voiced concern Monday over Iran’s plans to tighten its grip on Internet use with new technology that allegedly can get around counter-censorship tools.

The country has contracted an Iranian company, Delta Global, to set up a new online censorship system, according to a report by Reporters Without Borders. Delta Global head Rahim Moazemi told the Iranian press that he wanted to end “the anarchy of the Internet Service Providers.”"

"Iran, the group said, is one of several countries that uses SmartFilter software by San Jose, California-based company Secure Computing."

International Herald Tribune Yahoo helped Chinese to prosecute journalist

"The Internet giant Yahoo provided information that helped Chinese state security officials convict a Chinese journalist for leaking state secrets to a foreign Web site, court documents show."

"Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, Cisco and other major Internet service and equipment providers have come under scrutiny for helping China to monitor and censor content available to China's 100 million Internet users."

redux [06.28.04]
The New York Times Despite an Act of Leniency, China Has Its Eye on the Web
[requires 'free' registration]

"Both in China and abroad, some commentators quickly applauded what seemed like an official show of leniency toward the accused man, Du Daobin, a prolific author of online essays on issues of democracy and free speech.

But many among China's rapidly growing group of Internet commentators are warning that what appears to be government magnanimity in this high-profile case conceals a quiet but concerted push to tighten controls of the Internet and surveillance of its users even though China's restrictions on the medium are already among the broadest and most invasive anywhere."

redux [06.08.04]
Wired News Vietnam Orders Net Clampdown

"Vietnam has ordered local governments nationwide to closely monitor Internet use and enforce regulations aimed at cracking down on "bad information" sent or read on the Web, an official said Tuesday.

The move comes after the communist country sentenced several dissidents to long prison terms over the past two years for using the Internet to criticize the government and promote democracy."

redux [07.26.03]
MSNBC Internet booms in Baghdad

" "We need communications with the outside and there are no phones," said Ibrahem al-Samarra'i, general manager of Tina, a computer company and Internet cafe. "We need e-mail.""

""It is freedom, really," said Layth Abed al-Samea, a former computer engineer who left his field to become a graphic designer, as he trawled the Web at the Botan. "I chat with my family, with my cousin in Qatar...I also search for jobs.""

redux [06.13.03]
BBC Kabul's cyber cafe culture

"For a country that has been brutally scarred by a war that has left little standing, the idea of an information revolution takes some getting used to."

""The Taleban banned the use of the internet because they did not want Afghans to be part of the world and see the freedom that people elsewhere were enjoying.

"It's our chance, we have to grasp it.""

redux [02.20.03]
NPR: Talk of the Nation The Internet and Authoritarian Regimes

"It's easy to assume that the Internet is a friend of democracy and a facilitator of the free flow of ideas. Ronald Reagan once said, "The Goliath of totalitarianism will be brought down by the David of the microchip." Shanthi Kalathil wasn't so convinced. She and fellow researcher Taylor Boas studied the effect of the Internet on eight authoritarian regimes, and what they found challenges conventional wisdom. Kalathil joins guest host Lynn Neary to discuss their findings."

redux [02.03.03]
The Mercury News Vietnam wrestles with dilemma in Internet growth

"Plans are in motion to quadruple the current number of Internet users to four million by 2005 and the country's fledgling information technology sector will get injections of $100 million over the next two years, an initial investment aimed at harnessing the Internet's economic potential.

Yet even as it encourages Internet industry growth with tax breaks and other IT-friendly policies, Vietnam has tightened control over networked information. Web sites with pornography, violence, and in particular, criticism of Vietnam's communist, one-party system are all deemed ``poisonous and harmful.'' The government blocks access to many."

redux [01.25.03]
The Economist Caught in the net

"IF THE internet will force difficult changes on democracies by handing power to individual citizens, it seems reasonable to believe that it will have a devastating impact on dictatorships. But it is not impossible that instead of undermining repressive regimes, the internet could become the most effective tool of social control that autocratic rulers have ever wielded."

"As more human interactions are conducted and recorded electronically, as the ability to analyse databases grows and as video and other offline surveillance technologies become cheaper and more effective, it will become ever easier for authoritarian governments to set up systems of widespread surveillance. George Orwell's Big Brother of "1984" might yet become a reality, a few decades later than he expected."

redux [01.09.03]
First Monday Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule

"In today's networked, globalized world, many presume that the Internet will pose a grave threat to authoritarian regimes. Such has been the power of this conventional wisdom that it remains for the most part unchallenged, and largely unexamined.

A new book, Open Networks, Closed Regimes, offers the most comprehensive and thought-provoking work on this subject to date. Authors Shanthi Kalathil and Taylor C. Boas trace Internet use in eight authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries: China, Cuba, Singapore, Vietnam, Burma, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. They discover that authoritarian governments, far from fearing the information age, have chosen to direct Internet development in ways that bolster the state. At the same time, many regimes are struggling to cope with the potent challenges posed by new technologies. The authors encourage policy makers in the U.S. and other industrialized democracies to promote specific Internet-based initiatives that foster political liberalization, rather than perpetuating the myth of the Internet as an unstoppable "virus of freedom.""

redux [09.30.02]
SiliconValley.Com Internet arrives in Iraq

"After resisting the Internet as a freewheeling tool of globalization and political anarchy for a decade, Saddam Hussein's government has cautiously embraced it.

Internet cafes have sprung up all over Baghdad in recent months, and even in smaller cities such as Karbala, a religiously conservative city 75 miles southwest of the capital. Just last month, the government took another major step, permitting some citizens to have Internet connections at home

Iraqis can now surf the Web and send e-mail to their hearts' content -- as long as they do it via www.uruklink.net, the government-controlled service provider monitored by Saddam's agents."

redux [08.29.02]
The New York Times Saudi Censorship of Web Ranges Far Beyond Tenets of Islam, Study Finds
[requires 'free' registration]

"THE Saudi government is censoring public Internet access to a degree that goes significantly but haphazardly beyond its stated central goal of blocking sexually explicit content that violates the values of Islam, according to a recent study by Harvard Law School researchers.

The study's detailed list of blocked sites offers a glimpse into the areas that the Saudi government has deemed most troubling. Among them are sites related to pornography, women's rights, gays and lesbians, non-Islamic religions and criticism of political restrictions. Many humor and entertainment sites have also been blocked."

The device has been the kind of purchase people imagined someone else might enjoy."

redux [06.25.02]
News.Com Russia poised to restrict Net activities

""This version of the bill still allows the ability to prevent Internet activities without any necessity," said Kovalev, a 72-year old civil libertarian and member of the liberal "soyuz peravikh sil" faction.

Kovalev cited the portion of the bill that says it is "forbidden to use computer networks for extremism" and pledges a vague punishment that may "take into consideration" existing Russian criminal laws."

Wired News Egyptians Flock to New Net Plan

"Unlike the less-populated but richer countries Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which only last year overtook Egypt as having the largest Arab Internet population, Egypt is not trying to restrict the Internet.

But security police are monitoring chat rooms and local sites deemed immoral or damaging to the state or religion have been shut down. A few people have been imprisoned for soliciting sex on the Net."

redux [06.06.02]
BBC China loses grip on internet

""Without the internet the story may still have got out," said Mr Zheng. "With so many people killed it would have been hard to keep it a secret for ever, but it would have been much more difficult."

The internet is changing China in subtle but profound ways. Information is now being spread and exchanged in ways unthinkable just a few years ago.

The Chinese state's once total control on information has been broken and hard as it may try it has little hope of regaining that control."

redux [04.16.02]
Online Journalism Review Censorship Wins Out

"A decade or so ago, it was all clear: the Internet was believed to be such a revolutionary new medium, so inherently empowering and democratizing, that old authoritarian regimes would crumble before it. What we've learned in the intervening years is that the Internet does not inevitably lead to democracy any more than it inevitably leads to great wealth.

The idea that the Internet itself is a threat to authoritarian regimes was a bit of delusional post-Cold War optimism."

redux [03.21.02]
Salon Will the Net save China?

"Mao once said, "Political power grows from the barrel of a gun." The entrepreneurs in China Dawn seem to want to change the last phrase to "ISP access."

But their enthusiasm betrays a streak of naivete. As Tiananmen so amply demonstrated, in China today, political power still grows from the barrel of a gun. And the prediction that the rise of the Internet will liberate Chinese from authoritarian rule is far from certain."

South China Morning Post Who let the blogs out?

"One notable loophole in the content watch list are weblogs. Weblogs are content websites maintained by ordinary users that can act as introspective online diaries, soapboxes to rant opinions, and a vehicle guide the horde of Internet users to swarm to other obscure links to be found on the net. They are easy to update, cheap to maintain, and difficult to block because so many new ones appear each day. They utilize a client relationship with a server and can be updated with a simple browser."

The bureaucrats and censors in China who block and monitor websites will be hard pressed to try and control the future flow of weblogs both in and out of China due to the number and diversity of this new information platform. Having met actual Internet content censors from China, they are decent people but come from a different time and different place in terms of technology. They don't really get it yet since weblogs remain a concept difficult for them to understand for now."

redux [08.08.01]
First Monday The Internet and State Control in Authoritarian Regimes: China, Cuba, and the Counterrevolution

"It is widely believed that the Internet poses an insurmountable threat to authoritarian rule. But political science scholarship has provided little support for this conventional wisdom, and a number of case studies from around the world show that authoritarian regimes are finding ways to control and counter the political impact of Internet use. While the long-term political impact of the Internet remains an open question, we argue that these strategies for control may continue to be viable in the short to medium term."

"In this paper we illustrate how two authoritarian regimes, China and Cuba, are maintainng control over the Internet's political impact through different combinations of reactive and proactive strategies. These cases illustrate that, contrary to assumptions, different types of authoritarian regimes may be able to control and profit from the Internet. Examining the experiences of these two countries may help to shed light on other authoritarian regimes' strategies for Internet development, as well as help to develop generalizable conclusions about the impact of the Internet on authoritarian rule."

redux [06.19.01]
Ananova Political heavyweight warns of 'web threat to democracy'

"Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister has warned the internet threatens democracy and people's sense of patriotism.

Lee Hsien Loong says governments must find new ways to build a consensus on national issues and strengthen national identities."

"The internet "opens up societies and helps individuals link up with like-minded souls anywhere in cyberspace," he said.

But it "may weaken the bonds of place and circumstance that have always tied citizens to their home and nation," he added."

redux [10.26.00]
Center for Strategic and International Studies Reinventing Diplomacy in the Information Age

"The world is changing fundamentally. Images and information respect neither time nor borders. Hierarchy is giving way to networking. Openness is crowding out secrecy and exclusivity. Ideas and capital move swiftly and unimpeded across a global network of governments, corporations, and nongovernmental organizations. In this world of instantaneous information, traditional diplomacy struggles to sustain its relevance."

"Nations once connected by foreign ministries and traders are now linked through millions of individuals by fiber optics, satellite, wireless, and cable in a complex network without central control. The Internet, with 100 million users today, will reach one billion people by 2005 and will be available to half the world's population by 2010. The network will become the central nervous system of international relations."

redux [10.10.00]
MediaChannel.Org A Tower Aflame: Media, Metaphor and Revolution

"Metaphors, symbols and sayings are mighty mind-setters. They captivate our minds and focus our attention to one main point, effectively excluding others. Putin used the burning of the Ostankino television tower, once hailed as a symbol of Soviet supremacy, as a metaphor for the desperate economic need of Russia. The global media played along with this tune, once again showcasing images of Russia's decay. But there is another largely untold story to be extracted from Putin's metaphor: TV towers are more than symbols - indeed they are very concrete centers of mind control, distributing the flow of information and entertainment."

"Who chose the crumbling Berlin Wall as the icon and metaphor for the breakdown of communism and the end of the Cold War? Wouldn't a TV tower in flames be more accurate? It wasn't about the free flow of capital. It was about the free flow of information."

Reason Online Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business

"Thirty-five years ago, Milton Friedman wrote a famous article for The New York Times Magazine whose title aptly summed up its main point: “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” The future Nobel laureate in economics had no patience for capitalists who claimed that “business is not concerned ‘merely’ with profit but also with promoting desirable ‘social’ ends; that business has a ‘social conscience’ and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing em­ployment, eliminating discrimination, avoid­ing pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords of the contemporary crop of re­formers.”"

"John Mackey, the founder and CEO of Whole Foods, is one businessman who disagrees with Friedman."

"In the debate that follows, Mackey lays out his personal vision of the social responsibility of business. Friedman responds, as does T.J. Rodgers, the founder and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor and the chief spokesman of what might be called the tough love school of laissez faire. Dubbed “one of America’s toughest bosses” by Fortune, Rodgers argues that corporations add far more to society by maximizing “long-term shareholder value” than they do by donating time and money to charity."

redux [07.02.04]
Denver Business Journal Business ethics likely to stay problem area

"New research to be unveiled at a forum hosted by the Denver-based Center for Corporate Change (CCC) points to a mixed conclusion: In the past year, corporate America's ethical behavior grew better -- and worse."

"Those findings, which led the researchers to give American business a "D" -- for "dismal" -- grade, were based on the investigation of seven core causes of corporate misconduct identified by the center: corporate valuation, board governance, leadership and corporate culture, compensation, competitive practices, accountancy and regulation."

redux [01.07.04]
Knowledge@Wharton Why Smart People Do Unethical Things: What's Behind Another Year of Corporate Scandals

"You might think that with the passing of another year, the scandals would be showing signs of petering out, but they are not."

"What was it that triggered such a deluge of questionable practices, ranging from the hefty compensation package given to Grasso to the brazen activities that brought down Enron and WorldCom? Why were so many people willing to look the other way at the longstanding practice of securities analysts touting stocks to help their investment banking colleagues obtain underwriting business? What could entice someone like Strong, a millionaire many times over, to make questionable securities trades that could jeopardize both his good name and the health of a company he founded and nurtured for nearly 30 years? Why would Stewart risk her considerable fortune and her company's brand name for $45,000, the amount she allegedly made through insider trading?"

redux [03.03.03]
The Christian Science Monitor The value of virtue

"When Gail Snowden talks about making profit off the "disadvantaged" in "poor neighborhoods," like Harlem in New York and Roxbury in Boston, not a single person in the classroom flinches."

"Her work is just one proof, she says, that corporations can make money by being socially responsible.

This reinforces the two-fold message of Prof. Michael Appell's new course, "Corporations and Communications": Not only do businesses have a responsibility to behave ethically, but virtue itself can pay."

redux [01.07.03]
USA Today Ethics and the entrepreneur

"All of this begs a question: What are the ethics of entrepreneurship? I had an interesting discussion recently about what private companies that lie, steal and cheat are doing. Are they cheating their investors? Robbing the company bank? Stealing from employees? Lying to customers and investors? Most likely not, but is that because of ethical standards? Put another way, do business ethics differ between private and public companies? Does it matter if you are an entrepreneur or a corporate CEO? Perhaps it does."

"A public company CEO has more leeway in that regard. With the resources of the organization a more considerable distance from one's self-interest, it is easier to embrace the dual slide in morals and ethics that has allowed for greed, "me first" and instant gratification."

The New York Times Boot Camps on Ethics Ask the 'What Ifs?'
[requires 'free' registration]

"Most corporations have long had codes of conduct and have publicized them in employee handbooks and elsewhere. But now, Mr. Seidman said, they are "looking to create ethical athletes out of their managers" who are capable of navigating the gray areas.

Sun is one of the first companies to plunge into the exercise in a big way, by requiring all managers across the globe -- not just those who head financial and legal departments -- to undergo intense training. At the company's boot camp, speakers included Scott McNealy, the chief executive, and other top managers and board members. But most of the content was presented in a small-group format; executives had to wrestle with dozens of case studies in which there were no right or wrong answers."

redux [12.18.02]
Wired Magazine Google vs. Evil

"Most major companies refer to a detailed code of corporate conduct when considering such policy decisions. General Electric devotes 15 pages on its Web site to an integrity policy. Nortel's site has 34 pages of guidelines. Google's code of conduct can be boiled down to a mere three words: Don't be evil.

Very Star Wars . But what does it mean?

" Evil, " says Google CEO Eric Schmidt, "is what Sergey says is evil.""

redux [11.22.02]
HBS Working Knowledge Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

"Overall, though, my experience has been that probably half, and maybe even two-thirds, categorize ethics mainly as a risk management issue. These managers tend to see corporate values as a tool for preventing misconduct with its incident legal, financial, and reputational risks. Ethics gets their attention because they want to avoid the high-profile missteps and billion-dollar losses experienced by a Salomon Brothers, Bridgestone/Firestone, or Enron.

In recent years, however, I have seen more attention being paid to the positive side of ethics. More managers are waking up to the ways in which positive values contribute to a company's effective day-to-day functioning, as well as its reputation and long-term sustainability."

redux [09.20.02]
Fast Company The Secret Life of the CEO: Do they even know right from wrong?

"Perhaps we understand now. Or we're starting to. The corporate CEO is not the epic hero we once imagined. Now we know: He was never as smart or as right or as, well, together as we had hoped. His teeth aren't perfect either. But let's not go overboard: He's also not an epic sociopath. CEOs are only as culpable for all that has gone wrong with business in the past year as they were responsible for all that went right in the previous years. Which is to say that whatever they have done or failed to do doesn't explain everything. It doesn't even explain most things.

The truth behind the current episode of corporate comi-tragedy has plenty to do with the men ( and they are mostly men ) who are running the show -- but not in the way that we've always thought. All of our post-Enron hand-wringing about CEOs having values and "walking the talk" isn't wrong, exactly. It's just that it's not exactly right either. The truth is more shaded than that."

redux [08.06.02]
SiliconValley.Com As valley boomed, pressure blurred ethical boundaries

"Now it's Sunday morning across the nation, and CEOs are being hauled one after the other to the confessional. But the focus on rogue CEOs leaves out a wider picture: Many executives such as Rodek, who consider themselves honest, say they worked in the middle of tremendous pressure to stretch, if not break, the rules.

In an environment where some buffed the numbers, the price of doing the right thing was high and the payoff small. Companies that kept to the straight and narrow risked seeing their all-important share price doomed to mediocrity, making it harder to keep employees, raise money, compete with upstarts or even survive.

``It's not all greed,'' said Rodek, whose Sunnyvale company makes business software. ``Part of it is just competition. Business is a battle you either win or lose. There is no middle.''"

redux [07.09.02]
The Washington Post Sleaze and the Slump

"The WorldCom scandal is the latest building block in a new economic mythology. By the old mythology, the Internet and the "new economy" promised a rising stock market and anxiety-free prosperity. The new mythology holds that we've been mugged by corporate greed, which depresses stock prices and devastates "trust." In some ways, this is reassuring. It allows us to believe that purging dishonest executives and enacting the proper reforms will make things right. Unfortunately, it's also false."

"Morality tales are seductive. They express legitimate outrage. They're simple and understandable. It's right vs. wrong. Get rid of the bad guys, and the good guys can win."

"But the very simplicity of morality tales can be misleading."

redux [06.16.02]
SatireWire Remaining U.S. CEOs Make a Break For It

"Unwilling to wait for their eventual indictments, the 10,000 remaining CEOs of public U.S. companies made a break for it yesterday, heading for the Mexican border, plundering towns and villages along the way, and writing the entire rampage off as a marketing expense.

"They came into my home, made me pay for my own TV, then double-booked the revenues," said Rachel Sanchez of Las Cruces, just north of El Paso. "Right in front of my daughters.""

The New York Times Poor Nations Are Littered With Old PC's, Report Says
[requires 'free' registration]

"Much of the used computer equipment sent from the United States to developing countries for use in homes, schools and businesses is often neither usable nor repairable, creating enormous environmental problems in some of the world's poorest places, according to a report to be issued today by an environmental organization."

""Too often, justifications of 'building bridges over the digital divide' are used as excuses to obscure and ignore the fact that these bridges double as toxic waste pipelines," says the report. As a result, Nigeria and other developing nations are carrying a disproportionate burden of the world's toxic waste from technology products, according to Jim Puckett, coordinator of the group."

redux [08.17.05]
The Christian Science Monitor Saying 'So Long' to E-Waste

"From cellphones to iPods, from PDAs to PCs, Americans love the latest gadget. Yet this profusion of innovation also creates a problem: obsolete electronic devices, many with toxic parts, are stacking up in closets and basements, and eventually end up in a dump. In all, Americans own about 2 billion electronic gizmos, or 25 per household.

This "e-waste" is only about 2 percent by weight of the nation's municipal solid-waste stream, yet it is one of the fastest growing segments. "

"Each year, some 50 million computers and 20 million televisions become obsolete, according to a recent Government Accountability Office study. But only about 10 percent of e-waste is recycled, the rest is landfilled, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates."

The Cincinntati Post Toxic waste from recycling electronics a growing threat

"Toxic waste from computers, TVs and other electronic devices discarded in the United States and dismantled in China and India is an even more severe problem than previously feared, according to environmental groups that seek better recycling programs."

""The extent of the contamination is even worse than we had feared. The levels analyzed are really scary and very concerning," said Ted Smith, founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and chair of the Computer TakeBack Campaign, which wants a ban on the export of electronic waste to developing countries where worker protections and environmental standards are weak."

redux [04.16.04]
News.Com Weighing the results of PC recycling

"With Earth Day just around the corner, Dell and other PC companies are stepping up their efforts to recycle old computing gear that businesses and consumers have been sitting on for years."

"By making its recycling goals public, Dell will likely put pressure on competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM to follow suit. That could help encourage more recycling and establish a de facto method of measuring recycling trends for the PC industry as a whole. It could also help quell criticism that the industry has been slow to act on what environmentalists and legislators have deemed a growing pollution problem."

redux [04.07.04]
MSNBC Intel to launch environmentally friendly chips

"For environmental reasons, Intel Corp. plans to reduce the amount of lead in its microprocessors and chip sets by 95 percent starting this year."

"The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker, the world's biggest, said it is working with the rest of the industry to remove the remaining amount of lead that's needed to connect the processor's core with its packaging."

redux [03.09.04]
Wired News Short-Lived PCs Have Hidden Costs

"It turns out your computer is a much bigger material and energy hog than previously believed. The most effective way to reduce its oversized environmental footprint is to increase its useful lifespan, according to a new book released Monday, Computers and the Environment , by the United Nations University in Tokyo.

The average desktop PC and 17-inch CRT monitor takes an SUV-sized 1.8 tons of water, fossil fuels and chemicals to make, the book reports."

redux [07.07.03]
News.Com HP's take on recycling

"Most people viewing the carcass of an abandoned motherboard would see a useless collection of plastic shards and mangled wires.

Hewlett-Packard's Chris Altobell sees silver and gold.

Altobell is the marketing manager of HP's Product Recycling Solutions unit in Roseville, Calif., which processes 3 million pounds of used computer machinery each month, transforming giant corporate printers and cast-off 386 consumer machines into materials that can be spun into precious metals and plastic containers."

The New York Times Dell to Stop Using Prison Workers
[requires 'free' registration]

"Responding to concerns from both customers and environmental advocates, Dell Computer announced yesterday that it would no longer rely on prisons to supply workers for its computer recycling program.

Dell, the world's largest seller of PC's, said it had canceled its contract with Unicor, a branch of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that employs prisoners for electronics recycling and other industries."

redux [06.27.03]
The New York Times PC Makers Given Credit and Blame in Recycling
[requires 'free' registration]

"The nation's two largest personal computer makers, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, handle recycling of the waste from computer products in remarkably different ways, according to a report by environmentalists released today.

The report was prepared by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a group that also focuses on health issues, and the Computer Take Back Campaign. It commended Hewlett-Packard for using "state of the art" practices in partnership with an expanding commercial recycling industry, while criticizing Dell for using low-cost prison labor in association with Unicor, an industrial prison system within the Justice Department."

redux [06.04.03]
BBC Recycling law boosts hi-tech transfer

"Every year, 1.5 million old, but working, computers are buried in landfill sites. Now, an impending EU directive could mean these discarded machines, and many others, enjoy a more useful life.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Weee) Directive makes electronics firms responsible for what happens to the gadgets and devices they produce once people have done with them."

redux [02.25.03]
The Straits Times: Singapore Toxic e-waste

"This is the end of the road for the toxic end-product of the computer age.

In towns such as this one on China's south-eastern coast, vast quantities of obsolete electronics shipped in from the United States, Europe and Japan are piled in mountains of waste."

"The real costs are being borne by the people on the receiving end of the 'e-waste'. In towns along China's coast as well as in India and Pakistan, adults and children work for about US$1.20 (S$2.08) a day in unregulated and unsafe conditions."

redux [02.05.03]
News.Com HP: Don't trash that old computer

"The computer maker is testing a program that gives those who recycle their old computers, monitors, printers or other gear a coupon worth up to $50 for any purchase of $60 or more on HP's online store. Under a program announced nearly two years ago, HP charges anywhere from $17 to $31 to recycle products. The company says the coupon will offset the amount customers must pay for the service, which ensures none of the gear ends up in landfills.

The need for recycling is growing, particularly as nonprofit agencies become less willing to accept older gear, said Renee St. Denis, manager of HP's recycling effort. The problem of what to do with all this aging equipment has become a major issue facing the tech industry."

redux [01.26.03]
The Japan Times Chips with everything makes for a hi-tech mess

"So what are the environmental impacts of producing and using a 32-megabyte DRAM computer chip that weighs a mere 2 grams? The UNU team found that to make every one of the millions manufactured each year requires 32 kg of water, 1.6 kg of fossil fuels, 700 grams of elemental gases (mainly nitrogen), and 72 grams of chemicals (hundreds are used, including lethal arsine gas and corrosive hydrogen fluoride).

To make matters worse, Williams believes his findings are conservative. "We think the real numbers may be twice that," he said, adding that rapid advances in technology aggravate the problem. "The fact that a chip has such a short lifespan, because the technology turns over so quickly, exacerbates the environmental impact.""

redux [01.10.03]
Wired News E-Waste: Dark Side of Digital Age

""The leadership continues to be by and large the Japanese companies, and the U.S. companies tend to be far behind," Smith said.

"A lot of (U.S. manufacturers') initiatives are piecemeal and not really designed to address the vast majority of consumer concerns," he added. "There is still an enormous amount of computer waste being exported to China.""

"The report also criticizes Dell's use of federal prison labor to recycle old computers, which it says exposes inmates to toxic chemicals without the same health and safety protections as workers at other facilities."

redux [12.03.02]
The Mercury News In switch, HP announces support for e-waste bill

"In a shift that will change how toxic electronic waste is recycled in California and possibly nationwide, Hewlett-Packard has said it will support state legislation to require PC manufacturers to bear the cost of computer disposal.

""The combined HP-Compaq company is the single largest manufacturer of PCs in the world. They are the linchpin for producer responsibility,'' said Smith, whose group helped expose the primitive recycling industry in China. ``The fact that they have changed their position vastly improves the likelihood we'll get a very good e-waste bill in the new session.""

redux [11.13.02]
Salon Silicon hogs

"If we all had to lug around the true environmental weights of the microchips in our iPods, cellphones or laptops, most of those portable gadgets would never make it off their docking stations, much less out the front door.

It takes 3.7 pounds of fossil fuels and other chemicals and 70.5 pounds of water to produce a single two-gram microchip, according to a forthcoming study in the Dec. 15 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society."

redux [05.22.02]
Wired News Tech Toxics' Tarnished Legacy

"California high-tech manufacturing companies are degrading the environment in developing countries, a new research report confirms.

Case studies done in Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Thailand, and Costa Rica by the California Global Corporate Accountability Project document water pollution and inadquate waste management resulting from component production."

redux [04.06.02]
NPR: All Things Considered Activists Push for Safer E-Recycling

"Americans will throw out about 10 million old computers this year. About two-thirds of these will be shipped to Asia for dismantling by rural villagers. The computers all contain mercury and lead, and the resulting toxic waste has become a threat to villagers' health and environment.

"A coalition of activists and lawmakers has been working to improve the situation, and in recent weeks they've gotten a signed pledge from electronic manufacturers in the United States to consider a new solution."

redux [05.04.00]
San Francisco Bay Guardian Silicon Hell

"Behind the well-paid geeks in cubicles and the sharp-dressed entrepreneurs is an industry that consumes as many resources, uses as many lethal chemicals, and generates as much toxic waste as some of the worst culprits of the pre-Internet age. And both industry workers and the people who live near the plants are feeling the effects: the toxins damage aquatic life in the bay, poison drinking water, and, increasing evidence suggests, kill high-tech industry workers.

While the federal government, local agencies, and hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents and company workers are dealing with the computer industry's mess here in America, the same (or worse) problems are spreading worldwide."

The Economist GM and Ford in need of a big overhaul

"MOTORING folklore has it that a pair of women’s stockings knotted into a loop will provide a useful emergency replacement for a snapped fanbelt, keeping you on the road until a more permanent fix is available. The worse than expected losses that General Motors announced on Monday October 17th—of $1.6 billion net in the third quarter—show that something is very wrong under the bonnet at the giant Detroit carmaker. Ford's results three days later, though not quite as awful, showed it is in a similar fix.

On the same day as GM announced its dismal trading performance, it also gave details of an agreement with its notoriously truculent unions to cut health-care costs and the possible sale of a stake in GM's profitable finance arm. These may prove to be the knotted undergarment that keeps GM on the road for now—but it is clear that a more permanent fix will be needed."

AutoWeek Ford, GM sales screech to a halt as value pricing strategy replaces employee pricing

"Industry officials blame the slump on Hurricane Katrina, rising fuel prices, foul weather and flooding in the Northeast and declining consumer confidence. Whatever the reason, dealers say they're taking a serious hit in revenues.

"It is the worst I've seen in 30 years," said Dennis Doerge, general manager of Loren Buick-Pontiac in Glenview, Ill. "It is just awful. It is horrendous.""

The Globe and Mail Are Ford, GM fit to survive post-SUV world?

"The good news is that big summer discounts helped ailing North American auto makers clear out most of their sport utility vehicles.

The bad news is that their factories are still geared toward cranking out hulking autos that buyers no longer want. September's auto sales figures confirmed the end of a 15-year North American love affair with the SUV. Sales of the oversized autos plunged last month as car buyers reacted to the sudden spike in gasoline prices that followed hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

Time How to Kick the Oil Habit

"If anyone harbored any doubts that hybrid cars are hot, last week the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show put them to rest. Carmakers practically ran over one another promoting their versions in attempts to catch up with Honda and Toyota, the technology's pioneers. Companies such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mazda, Mitsubishi, GM, Volkswagen and Porsche showed new models or talked about plans to sell them by the end of the decade at the latest. On display were not only regular hybrids, the kind powered by gasoline engines mated to electric motors, but also variations adding hydrogen to the mix and a system that puts electric motors at the wheels. The frenzy to churn out hybrids and their technological cousins is so fierce that archrivals GM, DaimlerChrysler and BMW have teamed up to build a research and technical center in the Detroit suburbs. And Ford is so desperate to fill 200 open jobs in its hybrid program that it's competing with Toyota to hire engineers from the software and aerospace industries. The stakes are high: Ford and GM announced third-quarter losses of nearly $2 billion combined last week, thanks in part to plunging sales of SUVs."

MSNBC Apocalypse, now?

"It’s been 10 months of epic disaster. First there was the tsunami that killed some 250,000 people in Southeast Asia. Then came Hurricane Katrina with its devastating toll on the Gulf Coast, followed by an earthquake that took tens of thousands of lives in South Asia. Now, Hurricane Wilma, one of the most powerful storms ever measured in the Atlantic Basin, is stalking the Florida coast, and experts are warning of a deadly avian flu pandemic.

It’s enough to make just about anyone pause to look for meaning in the madness.

For many who await Judgment Day, the writing is on the wall."

The Times 'As scientists predict scientific disaster, others foresee Apocalypse'

"Writers have always responded to the Earth’s cruelties in this way, searching for an explanation of the forces that lie beyond human control. The biblical flood was evidence of a divine intention to cleanse the world of sin. In medieval Europe, as Norman Cohen has shown, plague and devastation prompted millennial movements, since they presaged Apocalypse and, therefore, redemption. The California earthquake of 1906 led to a sharp rise in religious fundamentalism."

"Sales of apocalyptic literature have grown hugely in recent times: the doom boom is nigh."

Media Monitors Network Uses and Abuses of Biblical Prophecy

"Rossing’s lecture was an overview of her most recent book, “The Rapture Exposed The Message of