Re: How lovely. Where's protection for IT folk in this wonderful world?
No, we should not, for the same reason why there are very few unions in the IT world : it gets in the way of business making money.
If there was one, it would be toothless : see press regulation. See also foreign textile workers, where the companies lie through their teeth about employee conditions, 100 tailors get crushed in a substandard building collapse, there's two days of coverage in the national press, and people go back to buying their el cheapo clothes from high street stores. Ethical companies largely do not have a competitive advantage.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but IT is the wrong target for this, and business will never comprehensively embrace thinking on an ethical basis, as they'll be out competed by businesses that are less committed (see above).
The only way this will ever happen is via legislation, and there are too many business interests for that to occur.
That's not to say you shouldn't challenge particularly egregious issues, but making it a professional requirement would necessitate paying IT staff considerably more (unlikely to happen, more likely is moving jobs offshore), setting up some sort of governing body (hasn't worked so far), and also the IT equivalent of NICE, and the implementation of QALYs (which people will endlessly argue over).
Where does the money come from to fund this? Customers don't enjoy paying more for ill defined consequences.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
