From news reports: “A former Harvard University fellow studying ethics has been charged with hacking into the computer network at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to steal more than five million academic articles….Aaron Swartz, 24, was indicted on six counts including wire fraud and faces up to 35 years in prison and a million dollar fine if convicted.”
What?
Questions abound:
What do they teach in Harvard ethics classes?
What kind of grades did Swartz get?
Does this prove that the course of study was junk, or does it prove that he was studying the right subject, since he obviously has a lot to learn?
Is it reasonable to say, “Imagine how unethical he would have been if he wasn’t an Ethics fellow”?
Does this prove that one can be an Ethics Fellow and an Unethical Fellow at the same time?
Should an Ethics Fellow who proves himself to be unethical be allowed to cite his credentials as an ethics fellow?
If those who can’t do, teach, is he still qualified to teach ethics?
Finally, if becoming an Ethics Fellow at Harvard can’t be relied upon to set the “stealing 5 million academic articles is wrong” alarm, what’s the point?