A recent Rolling Stone article about John Rendon's ["alleged"] role in selling the war in Iraq, drew the close attention of local journalist, Peter Freyne, who happened to discover that a Vermont software firm, Bear Code, had done some development for the Rendon Group. These are some super smart guys (even if their site pokes some fun at Microsoft ;-) ) who's company is based in Vermont (more of the project management here) and in Moscow (more of the development there).
Here is Bear Code's description of their client and their relationship with them (from their website)
The Rendon Group (TRG) is a Global Strategic Communications Consultancy providing products and services to both public and private sector clients. To date, TRG has worked in eighty (80) countries, frequently on location in a conflict environment, and has considerable experience in establishing field offices to support program objectives.
Bear Code has developed for the Rendon Group multiple web-based applications that rely on a robust database backend. A staple of Rendon's requirements is rapid development, and they keep working with Bear Code because we continue to deliver.
So they got a client with interesting needs and a big budget and got to write some cool software for them.
The Freyne article (originally published in Seven Days but I can't find it there any more) nearly holds Bear Code responsible for the war in Iraq with his charges of collusion. Okay, not literally, but Freyne, who's column I love reading, really ticked me off with this one.("Excellent!", I'm sure he would say, "I'm doing my job!")
I hardly think that John Rendon pulled them aside and explained to them exactly what they were really doing and how the software came into play. I better to put the "allegedly" caveat in again.. Though my liberal leanings definitely put me on the obvious side of this fence, I want to be fair (I'm a Libra, you know) and I am not one to invite political debate.
As a software developer, this brings a big question to the fore. Where is the line between our own personal politics/morals/ethics and our business?
Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, with members like Ben & Jerry's, Gardener's Supply, and Seventh Generation probably has a lot of answers to this question.
One of my best clients is a very conservative guy. He knows I'm totally the opposite. Though we will tease each other a bit about our adverse politics, it doesn't really come up much. I'm proud of the work that I've done for him, and of the success of his company and my part in that. Plus, we have a great relationship and he enables me to do some really interesting work. My work for his company helps to ensure the safety of buildings, roads, bridges and more. I know it does not contribute directly to his political agenda though his success has made him a pillar in his business community and in turn that gives him some influence in that locale. So there is a thread that can be drawn in that direction. But this doesn't interest me.
My husband laughs at the "evil" in working for someone who's politics are opposite of your own. He reminds me of my own contributions to liberal organizations and where the source of the money is coming from. Makes me almost a bit like Robin Hood in his eyes.
In the .NET community, I have found myself with close friends who are quite opposite from me when it comes to politics. In fact, they have trained me not to rant about certain current U.S. presidents on my other blog. However, we have so much other common ground to connect on, that these differences are not important to us.
At what point does the software you write advance your clients' political agenda? And where in relation to that point, if their politics differ from yours, do you draw the line?