Interesting language that he is using, specially the moral stance.
But he is barking on the wrong tree I think. It seems more a revenge on the same companies that have skilfully managed to avoid paying taxes in the UK. They seem to know more the legal possibilities that they have.
These are more or less the same companies that many countries (and I suspect also the UK) who in the 90s were invited to come and stay in order to bring the information society to place. They were offered tax breaks as long as they established their manufacturing or service facilities in the countries.
Some companies also brought some research capabilities. Countries like India and China are now hosting research centres for Microsoft and the like. These centres also attracted the best talent and have become an aspiration for many youngsters.
No questions were asked about the sustainability of these capabilities, or the real contributions they were making to the welfare of societies. The technology hubs have become centres of excellence whilst at the same time the conditions of populations barely change.
Look at Bangalore for instance. Look also at Galway in Ireland. Is anyone worried about the living conditions?
What no government neither any technology company has bothered to bring to youngsters is ethical education. I remember many years ago when I was challenging a technology entrepreneur who was asking for more government support to bring the latest technology to our home country in Colombia. I asked: who is going to look after the living conditions of the people in the country? He replied, it is not our problem, we only care about technology.
And this has been the motto of many companies. They care about innovation in technology. They do not care about ethics. But neither do governments. They are as responsible as anyone else for the use or misuse of technology. They are also responsible for allowing business to become irresponsible ethically.
We as educators are responsible for just giving the market what it needs. Professionals who can produce advanced technology, but who do not care about taxes. Because we teach them about efficiency. And this also means being efficient with the taxes that you pay.
Technology professionals might say that it is not responsibility to care about taxes, let alone the living conditions of the people of the communities where they work. They are there just to do a job. Nothing else. They were educated not to ask difficult questions, ethical questions. They were educated not to take responsibility on social issues.
We all need to bring back the ethics, because it touches upon every aspect of the business, and most importantly, it touches on every single individual that works in it. Ethics is not about enforcing legally moral behaviour. It is about nurturing it. It is about making people aware that any action has consequences.
This, is to me, the real 'moral' stance that we need to take. We should stop blaming the technology companies, they are whatever we want them to be. What do we want to be as technology professionals ? Surely not one of these gurus we see around who pass on moral responsibility cot others.
