By Ed Finegold

Watching oilman T.Boone Pickens on The Daily Show and 60 Minutes promoting his plans for energy independence evokes something my sarcastic father used to say about Wall Street philanthropists: "first you get rich; then you get ethics." If only the phrase were universally true. The rich and unethical have been exposed in recent months, and yet governments around the world aim to hand them bundles of cash and hope they've learned a lesson. The communications industry doesn't need a bailout, which is fortunate for those of us who work in it, but it faces its own challenges when it comes to ethics. As billing infrastructure is offered as a service to 3^rd party content providers, the open door policy welcomes not only the overtly fraudulent, but the grossly unethical who walk the line between criminality and plain old greed.

Fishing for Marks

Let's get one thing perfectly clear: fantasy football is a disease. On the surface it seems like a great way to keep in touch with friends and follow a beloved sport. In reality, it's a time sink, it creates pointless arguments among good friends, and it undermines traditional team loyalties. And yet, reading up on which scrub is suddenly the ideal free agent addition to one's ailing squad becomes a compulsion for far too many people. Scanning The Sporting News fantasy football

website for elusive tidbits of information, like how well the Saints' 3^rd string receiver fared in practice on Wednesday, one is likely to encounter premium content providers fishing clandestinely for unwitting marks.

The advertisement says, "Brett Favre's IQ = 105. Can you beat his score? Try now! Take the quiz!" It's an innocent ploy that plays on one's subconscious insecurities. It says in so many words, "C'mon, you might suck at fantasy football, but you're still smarter than a guy who's had his head pounded into the turf for the past 20 years." Clicking on the link takes you to a 10 question quiz that's about as close to an IQ test as Favre is to a particle physicist. It is suspiciously simple.

Hiding Behind Caveat Emptor

The Roman Empire is often praised for bringing roads, aqueducts, sanitation, education and political order to vast areas of Europe and the Near East. But the Romans also practiced slavery, fed people to lions for sport, and introduced the world to the concept of Caveat Emptor – buyer beware. This concept became fundamental to capitalism and it is a healthy reminder to consumers that businesses are, first and foremost, out to make money. The dark side of the phrase, however, is that too often it is used to justify unethical business practices, as is apparent in the 3^rd party content world.