About
G. Florence Scott’s blogs are about, for and of interest to whistleblowers and those who are interested in their issues and support them. GFS became interested in the plight and challenges of whistleblowers due to family and friends experiences within government and in industry in this time of extreme corruption and disorganization. Her blogs provide a source for a variety of types of information and moral support! She hopes that by encouraging others to stand up and do what’s right, and supporting those who already are doing so, she will be facilitating the success of the clean-up effort!
5 Comments Add your own
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
1.
David Marosi | March 9, 2009 at 11:23 pm
It is interesting that government has required publicly traded companies to comply with the provisions of Sarbanes Oxley yet they have not embraced these provisions for themselves (government) or government contractors.
My whole life has revolved around receiving and reacting to information provided anonymously or under the protection of confidentiality. I was previously in law enforcement, specifically drug enforcement and gambling enforcement. Without this information we could not do our jobs. The most important provision in encouraging people to share information that few knew was assurances and demonstrated ability to protect that information and protect the identities of those providing the information.
When I left law enforcement and began working in the private sector I found the same conditions to be present. We could not identify all the schemes and misconduct without the help of those who were primarily witnesses who did not want to become involved.
As a result of these experiences I created what became known as “ethicspoint” which is http://www.ethicspoint.com, A confidential way for people to report misconduct anonymously. Today I am no longer involved with the business as I have retired. But the company has continued to perfect these processes beyond anything else in the world today. Of interest, in today’s addition of Time magazine there is an article about the largest problem child in the world today, that being the thought provoking agency known as the SEC. They receive 700,000 reports of fraud, abuse, misconduct, unethical behavior and customer complaints. But as we know they apparently dump them into some file cabinet and do not even begin to sort through them to see if there is anything of value, or even a pattern of behavior. They are overwhelmed not just with the volume of information but also with internal incompetence.
The Time article goes on to say that the SEC is looking for technology to help them process that information. So it sounds like they are going to hire one of their favorite contractors to create a very expensive system. This is not only wasteful it is an incredibly uninformed path to follow. To assist 2,000 corporate clients and process 20,000 reports per month, ethicspoint created a system that does exactly what the SEC “says” it wants. Yet, they are saying that out of one side of their mouth while internally they are saying “slow this down, we dont want to know because if we know we might have to do something.”
Incredibly frustrating, I wish someone would take the lead with the SEC and apply some common sense.
2.
gflorencescott | March 10, 2009 at 11:00 am
Thank you for your thoughtful and articulate comment, David. Would you mind if I post your comment on the blog in an earea where more people will see it? Thanks, GFS
3.
Stacy Bernstein | July 3, 2009 at 6:07 am
Thank you for keeping whistleblowing in the spotlight.
4.
gflorencescott | July 3, 2009 at 11:18 am
Thank you Stacy! I’ve tried to gather things of importance for people to read and connect the dots, with links to the originals so they may continue the reading beyond this blog. What many of our citizens are going through now due to what feels like a costly and lonely campaign against fraud and corruption in their workplaces is nearly overwhelming. They need every bit of support we can give them!
5.
Stacy Bernstein | July 3, 2009 at 11:41 pm
That is exactly the same spot I find myself in. Feel free to visit the website savestacy to find out more about my case. What you are doing for others is a wonderful thing. Thank you, and please keep it up!