Voice of the DBA

Tag: misc

  • Data and Privacy

    Privacy issues definitely apply for logging and debugging code.

    Recently there’s been quite an outcry over Carrier IQ’s software, which is on many smartphones and allows keystroke logging and capture of almost anything you do on your phone and transmit. Google’s Eric Schmidt condemned the use of the software, and there are numerous lawsuits being filed.

    Whether you think this software is legitimate or Carrier IQ and the carriers had the right to deploy it, you should be aware that from a public perspective this is a failure of software. It seems as though a back door of sorts, a spy program has been developed and approved by companies that sell cellular phone services, and it is a poor reflection of their business.

    I see legitimate uses for this software. It could be incredibly useful in debugging software and finding issues. If it’s enabled and captured by the end user. Having the vendor capable of accessing this information, however, is a very bad decision. It’s the equivalent of Microsoft being able to turn on trace or extended events on your instance and have all that data sent back to them in near real time.

    Many of us develop software, and we need to implement logging, and diagnostic functions that enable us to track down issues. However we ought to respect the privacy and potential perception of our customers and limit the ways in which we implement these features. We should design the functions to allow for a reasonable expectation of privacy when appropriate, and we should fully disclose how and when we are collecting data in the application.

    The other great lesson to take from this is the way we handle potential issues if they arise. Carrier IQ could have done a much better job of working with those that had concerns if they had respected and discussed the concerns, rather than dismissing the issues and attacking the people that raised them. That’s a communication lesson we all could remember in any conflict at work.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • SQL Run was awesome

    When Jes Borland suggested we do a group SQL Run in Seattle, I was thinking that we’d have a few people. Allen White and I run together when we’re in the same town, and with all the people that ran the Portland half and full marathons this past weekend, I was thinking that we’d have 10 or 12 people for the run.

     

    I arrived at the Sheraton around 6:45, and there was one guy outside. I was thinking, OK, a nice small group run and I’m early. He told me that there were people inside waiting, and when I walked in, I saw this:

    That’s me hidden in the right corner.

    There were about 20-25 people and across the next 10 minutes the crowd grew to about 40-50 people. Hard to tell, but it was a large crowd. A few people I expected to come didn’t because of the timing. We were finishing around 7:30 or so and with breakfast ending at 8am and the keynote at 8:15, that doesn’t leave a lot of time to cool down, shower, and more.

    One reason I didn’t accept a spot at the blogger table. Totally worth it to jog with the crowd down to the water and along the boardwalk and piers North of Pikes Place Market. I ended up moving along different people at different times, chatting as we lightly jogged around.

    It was a great time, with a nice Seattle morning, cool, but not cold, only a little wind and no rain. A pleasant way to start the day.

  • The Countdown

    What's coming later today?

    This is going to be so cool.

    I heard about this over the summer, and it’s quite possible that my jaw literally dropped when I was told. It was stunning, surprising, something that I never expected. Especially with the short lead-in talk I was given before the news. As Jes Borland (blog |@grrl_geek) might say, “Squeeeeeeeeeeee”. It’s exciting, and I can’t say what it is yet. As I write this, I’m almost bouncing out of my seat from the excitement.

    Come to the Red Gate booth at 10am

    Come right after the keynote talk to hear the announcement. I am sure you’ll be as shocked, then surprised, and then as excited as I am.

    What could it be? Take your guess when you get the newsletter. If you’re outside of the west coast, there’s a good chance you’ll get to guess what this could be. Need a hint? Hmmmm, what could I say that won’t get me into trouble?

    • 50, years that is.
    • An amazing view
    • A touch of danger

    That’s about all I can say, at least that’s all I feel comfortable saying. Take your guess, and I’ll pick someone to send an Amazon GC over to sometime in the next week. You don’t have to be right, but make me smile, laugh, or intrigue me. No insider entries allowed, but what could Red Gate be announcing?

    Tune in at 10, watch Twitter, or come back tomorrow and check out the editorial then.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • How Much Is It Worth?

    Ethics are important, in our personal lives and in business.

    This editorial was originally published on Nov 21, 2005. It is being re-run today as Steve is on holiday.

    How much money is it worth to work with someone that kills and tortures people? Twenty five investment groups are working with Reporters Without Borders and looking to partner with, invest in, and help companies pursue a profit, but not at the cost of dealing with some governments.

    Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and many non-tech companies have made investments in and done tremendous business with various governments around the world, often ignoring the social policies and issues of those governments. This is nothing new, however. When I was in college, there were many companies that did business with South Africa, regardless of apartheid, simply to turn a bigger profit.

    Profit is not the only goal of a corporation. Or at least it should not be. Being a good citizen of the world should also be something that a corporation deals with. Most companies have theses noble and strong vision statements, but when profits are down or the “number” is threatened in a quarter, the leaders ignore the strong moral and ethical message to gather a few more pennies per share.

    It’s amazing. Read some of the statements: Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Wal-Mart). They all mention ethical conduct and corporate standards. But they have all done business with suspect governments. Google is especially interesting in their 10 things list: You can make money without doing evil. The description of this seems to be something written at Slashdot by engineers. Not analog citizens in the physical world.

    Perhaps the problem is that we don’t know what “ethics” are. Maybe everyone’s ethics are sufficiently different that we don’t agree on what is unethical and when a rule is bent v broken. You can justify almost everything that you do in some way. But that doesn’t make it ethical, moral, or the right thing to do.

    Maybe the first step is a global definition of ethics to follow.