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Glossary of Ethics Terms
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ACCOUNTABLE
Answerable, being required to answer for one's actions. Sometimes the term
"accountable" is used with a moral connotation ("normatively") meaning morally
required to answer for one's actions without specifying to whom one is accountable.
More often "accountable" is used descriptively to describe the sociological fact that a
person or organization in question is required to answer to a particular party by some
rules or organizational structure. For example, "the principal is accountable to the school
board" gives a description of the social facts without suggesting anything about the
ethical legitimacy of the organizational structure. One factor that causes confusion about
this term is that, sometimes, the term "responsible" is used as a synonym for
"accountable," especially in discussions of official responsibilities. When "responsible" is
used as a synonym for "accountable," it is used with the preposition "to" as in "each staff
employee is responsible/accountable to a supervisor." To avoid confusion in materials
created for Online Ethics Center the term, "responsible" will never be used as a synonym
for "accountable" and "accountable" will be used only descriptively. See responsibility.
Being a responsible person, that is, the sort of person who fulfills one's moral
responsibilities, is an ideal of character, a virtue. Being accountable is not a moral virtue
but only a fact about one's social or organizational situation. Although it is often argued
that people are more likely to behave responsibly if they are held accountable for their
actions, there is no necessary link between being responsible and being accountable.
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
The body of regulations, rules, orders and decisions to carry out regulatory powers
created by administrative agencies. In ordinary use, as contrasted with technical legal use,
people often speak of administrative law as "regulation." For example, it is often pointed
out that it is easier for regulatory agencies, such as OSHA & the EPA, to update their
regulations than it is to get Congress to pass new laws. It is said that such regulation "has
the force of law." In the technical legal sense regulation is law.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Positive steps to enhance the diversity of some group, often to remedy the cumulative
effect of subtle as well as gross expressions of prejudice. When numerical goals are set,
they are set according to the group's representation in the applicant pool rather than the
group's representation in the general population. For example, a medical school with an
affirmative action program would seek to admit members of an underrepresented group
in proportion to their representation in the population of those who had completed premedical requirements and wished to attend medical school. Affirmative action should be
distinguished from reparations.
AUTHENTICITY
The character trait or virtue of authenticity is that of being genuine, honest with oneself
as well as others. Therefore "authenticity" connotes not only candor, but an absence of
hypocrisy or self-deception.
B
BIAS
An inclination that influences judgment. The term "bias" may be used in a merely
descriptive way to mean an inclination, but more often it is used as a term of evaluation
to mean an inclination that influences judgment and ought not to. "Prejudice" is a
synonym for bias in this pejorative sense. However, bias that cannot be completely
eliminated in the work of scientific investigators, in contrast to bias or prejudice that can
and should be eliminated, is also an important topic in research ethics. For example, the
way disciplinary training inclines people to interpret the results of an experiment in terms
of the established categories of that discipline is a feature of research, and one that must
be taken into account in assessing responsible behavior in research. Since undertaking
research requires undergoing advanced training in a discipline, it is impossible to
eliminate all preconceptions from one's interpretation of the data. Of course, researchers
may hold disciplinary biases and still be unbiased in other respects. For example, they
may be impartial on the question of the truth or falsity of a particular research hypothesis.
BRIBE
Something that is given or offered to a person or organization in a position of trust to
induce that agent to behave in a way that is inconsistent with that trust. As C.E. Harris
points out, it is important that bribery be distinguished from capitulating to extortion
(that is, capitulating to a demand under coercion or intimidation). It may be ethically
justified to pay extortion in some circumstances, even though it would be wrong to offer
a bribe. Bribes are paid to obtain something to which one does not have a right, such as a
special advantage in awarding a contract. In contrast, extortion is paid to secure
something to which one has a right, such as the return of expensive equipment one has
legally brought into a country but which a corrupt customs official claims has been "lost".
C
CANDOR
Candor is the quality of being frank or open. The original sense of the term was of the
virtue of purity or innocence, but that use is now obsolete. Although being open and
unbiased is a positive quality, in some circumstances it is better to be discreet rather than
candid with some party on a particular topic. Certainly, there are some matters in which a
person is morally required to keep something confidential, and therefore being candid
with the wrong party about some matter would be an ethical breach. See also
Authenticity.
CIVIL LAW
The body of law relating to contracts and suits as contrasted with criminal law. Civil law
covers suits of one party by another for such matters as breach of contract or negligence.
The standard of proof in civil cases is preponderance of evidence - a greater weight of
evidence for than against, which is a weaker standard than absence of a reasonable doubt.
COMPLAINANT
Anyone who raises a concern inside or outside their organization about something that he
believes to be amiss. The term does not have the negative connotation of "complainer."
The complainant is one who speaks up in some way about a problem. This speaking up
may or may not include filing a formal charge. See also Whistle-Blower.
CONFIDENTIAL
That which is done or communicated in trust. Confidential information is information
entrusted to another. The implication is that it is information that for some reason (from
personal privacy to competitive advantage) the person entrusting the information does not
wish at least some others to know. Thus confidential information is information to be
shared only with a very limited group who are involved with furthering certain ends
which the one entrusting the information wants served, such as treatment of a disease, or
development and manufacture of a new product. Most professions recognize some duty
to keep confidential a client's information, although such a duty has limits when the
confidential information concerns a danger to others.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A person has a conflict of interest when the person is in a position of trust which requires
her to exercise judgment on behalf of others (people, institutions, etc.) and also has
interests or obligations of the sort that might interfere with the exercise of her judgment,
and which the person is morally required to either avoid or openly acknowledge. (The
lesser requirement of open acknowledgment is usually adopted when it seems too
burdensome to require that the person in a position of trust to divest herself of the interest
that conflicts with her position of responsibility. For example, some journals require that
authors disclose any substantial financial interests that might have biased their research
assessment. Requiring investigators to divest themselves of investments that they may
have made on the basis of their scientific judgment would be too burdensome, and might
even suppress publication.) Dictionary definitions frequently apply the term only to
conflicts between a person's private interests and those of a public office the person holds,
and by extension with that person's professional obligations and responsibilities.
However, there can also be conflicts of interest in which private interests do not enter.
For example, the American Bar Association specifies as part of a general rule on conflict
of interest that "A lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation of that client
may be materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client or to a third
party, or by the lawyers own interests, unless
1. the lawyer reasonably believes the representation will not be adversely affected, and
2. the client consents after consultation. When representation of multiple clients in a single
matter is undertaken, the consultation shall include explanation of the implications of the
common representation and the advantages and risks involved." ABA, 1989
There is no similar rule requiring engineers or engineering firms to avoid, say, building
manufacturing facilities for, or supplying parts to, two companies that directly compete in the
same market, although the engineering firm might need to be especially careful to avoid
disclosing the proprietary information of one company to the other. This example illustrates the
point that one needs to look carefully at the nature of a professional's or public official's
obligations and responsibilities in order to know when conflicting interests become a conflict of
interest, that is, when a situation that requires discretion to handle the actual or potential conflict
fairly is one that he is morally required to avoid altogether, or at least to disclose to all parties.
Policies requiring financial disclosure, that is disclosure of financial interests that might conflict
with judgment as a researcher or as public official, is very commonly called a "conflict of interest
policy," although such financial conflict of interest is only one specific type.
CONTRACT
As used in ethics, the term "contract" means an explicit agreement which is freely entered
into. Only a small number of these would qualify as legal contracts. A legal contract is a
legally binding agreement among two or more parties. Breach of contract is the failure to
fulfill a legal contract).
COPYRIGHT
A legal right (usually of the author or composer or publisher of a work) to exclusive
publication production, sale, distribution of some work. What is protected by the
copyright is the "expression," not the idea. Notice that taking another's idea is plagiarism,
so copyrights are not the equivalent of legal prohibition of plagiarism.
CRIMINAL LAW
Governs crimes (felonies and misdemeanors). Crimes are offenses against the state. Civil
law deals with private offenses, such as violations of contracts, and failure of professional
duty. The standard of proof for crimes is higher than for civil proceedings. For major
crimes guilt be established beyond a reasonable doubt.
D
DILEMMA
A forced choice between courses of action (usually two) which are equally unacceptable.
Sometimes people will call any challenging "moral problem" a dilemma, but this is a
misleading use of the term. Only a few moral problems are dilemmas in the true meaning
of the term. Calling moral problems "dilemmas" is confusing because it implies that the
only possible responses are the two obvious (and unacceptable) ones, and tends to
discourage real problem solving.
DISCRIMINATION
One form of behavior that shows prejudice, but not the only form. Discrimination is the
failure to treat people in the same way because of a bias toward some of them because of
some characteristic - such as race, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation,
disability - which is irrelevant to their suitability for something (e.g., to occupy housing
or to perform a job).
DUE PROCESS
The procedure or process required for a given judgment to be fair. Fairness here is
specified in terms of the process rather than the outcome. For example, although it is
desirable that those and only those who are guilty of a crime be punished for it,
infallibility of judgment by the law courts cannot be guaranteed. The feasible goal is to
try to ensure everyone a fair trial. Similarly, although it is hoped that important research
does not go unrecognized, it is impossible to guarantee that the contributions of those
who are "ahead of their time" will be recognized. The feasible goal is to ensure fair
process (e.g., in the reviewing of research proposals for funding or research results for
publication).
E
ETHICS
The term "ethics" is used in several different ways. First, it means the study of morals. It
is also the name for that branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of morals and
moral evaluation - e.g., what is right and wrong, virtuous or vicious, and beneficial or
harmful (to others). Second, the term ethics or morality is used to mean the standards for
ethical or moral behavior of a particular group, such as "Buddhist ethics" or "nursing
ethics" or "Roman Catholic morality" or "the professional ethics of engineers in the
twentieth century United States." To give a description of such ethical codes and
standards is descriptive ethics, . Descriptive ethics does not require making a judgment as
to whether the code or standards of behavior have ethical justification. Examination of
the adequacy of moral or ethical values, standards or judgments is normative ethics.
Third, some authors even use the term "ethics" or "morality" more loosely to mean any
code of behavior, even one that does not claim to have moral justification. For example,
Robert Jackall in Moral Mazes describes what he calls a corporation's "ethics" or
"morality" and takes it to include such judgments as "What is right is what the guy above
you wants from you."(p. 6) Such a judgment is about the best (i.e., most effective) way to
survive in the organization, but does not pretend to be a statement about what is
morally/ethically justified. It may be important to examine such codes of behavior and
see how they affect the opportunities for moral action, but not every code of behavior has,
or is even claimed to have moral/ethical justification. The term "moral" tends to be used
for more practical elements, such as "moral problems" and "moral beliefs", and "ethical"
tends to be used for more abstract and theoretical elements, such as "ethical principle",
but the distinction is by no means hard and fast. Some philosophers and theologians have
drawn a distinction between the moral and the ethical. They have drawn such a variety of
different distinctions, however, that to use any one of them invites confusion with the
others. Therefore the terms "ethical" and "moral" are used interchangeably here.
F
FABRICATION
In research ethics the term, "fabrication" means making up data, experiments or other
significant information in proposing, conducting or reporting research. In engineering,
the term "fabrication" has a benign connotation, meaning to make something. Sometimes
it is used to refer to an intermediate stage in going from designs to manufacture or
construction.
FALSIFICATION
In research ethics the term "falsification" means changing or misrepresenting data or
experiments, or misrepresenting other significant matters, such as the credentials of an
investigator in a research proposal. Unlike fabrication distinguishing falsification of data
from legitimate data selection takes judgment and an understanding of statistical methods.
FRAUD
A fraud is an intentional deception perpetrated to secure an unfair gain. Financial fraud,
that is, a deception practiced on another party to cheat them out of money, is the most
commonly discussed type of fraud. The term "research fraud" or "scientific fraud" is also
used to mean an intentional deception about scientific results, a type of research
misconduct. In this case there is no financial transaction, there need not be a financial
transaction to obtain a financial benefit which the perpetrator receives, and there need not
be an injured party. It is useful to sort out the characteristics of a fraudulent act. For this it
is instructive to look at the legal definition. In a civil law suit charging fraud there is a
plaintiff who brings the charge against a defendant.
To win the suit the plaintiff must prove five points





the defendant made a false representation
the defendant knew that the representation was false or at least recklessly disregarded
whether it was true or false.
there was intent to induce belief in the misrepresentation
the plaintiff had a reasonable belief in the misrepresentation
the plaintiff suffered damage as a result.
As is illustrated in the case of "research fraud," the term "fraud" is often used informally to mean
a misrepresentation that satisfies only the first three criteria.
G
GLASS CEILING
A barrier to advancement within an organization experienced by members of certain
groups because of prejudice (including discomfort in their presence). This term is most
often used when the organization does bring in members of the group affected by the
ceiling and often does promote them through the junior ranks on a comparable basis to
the most favored group. If members of a group tend to leave the organization soon after
entering, this is termed a "revolving door" rather than a "glass ceiling." The barrier in an
organization may be different for different groups that are commonly victims of prejudice
and usually is strongly influenced by so-called `corporate culture.'
I
INHERENTLY SAFE
A term that is applied to processes and means that they minimize the use of hazardous
materials or the time between creation and use of hazardous materials. In contrast, the
notion of inherently dangerous or unreasonably dangerous is a legal notion that applies to
products as well as processes. It applies to hazards in normal or reasonably foreseeable
use of a device, construction, process, etc., and is a condition of strict liability in tort.
INFORMED CONSENT
A term used to describe the obligation of physicians or researchers to allow patients or
subjects to be active participants in decision regarding their care or participation in
research. Informed consent, then, is rooted in the concept of autonomous choice or the
right of self-determination.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
disclosure (of information to the patient/subject)
comprehension (by the patient/subject of the information being disclosed)
voluntariness (of the patient/subject in making his/her choice)
competence (of the patient/subject to make a decision)
consent (by the patient/subject)
L
LIABLE
Being obligated by law to make satisfaction, compensation or restitution.
LIABILITY
A legal notion meaning a legal debt or obligation. The liabilities most often discussed in
the Online Ethics Center are those to compensate for injury (to one's person, property,
finances, or reputation) or to clean up toxic contamination. Legal liability to compensate
for an injury or to clean up contamination does not necessarily require that one have
caused the injury or contamination, or that one is guilty in a moral sense. Under the
doctrine of strict liability a party may be liable without having been guilty of negligence,
for example.
M
MORAL
Synonym for "ethical." See ethics.
N
NEGLIGENCE
Failure to be sufficiently careful in a matter in which one has a moral responsibility to
exercise care is negligence. Some careless mistakes are negligent, as when a surgeon
sews up a patient with surgical instruments inside. Others are not, as when one dribbles
soup down the front of one's sweater. A private or civil wrong or injury is called a tort,
the prosecution of which tries to recover for a loss caused by someone's failure to fulfill a
recognized duty owed to another, or by acting with less care than a reasonably prudent
person would do under the same circumstances.
O
OBLIGATIONS
Requirements arising from a person's situation or circumstances (e.g., relationships,
knowledge, position) that specify what must or must not be done for some moral, legal,
religious, or institutional reasons. For example, students have an obligation see their
advisor on or before Registration Day. People have a moral obligation to keep their
promises. Notice that usually statements of obligations specify what acts are required or
forbidden without reference to the consequences of performing the act (except in so far as
these consequences are a part of the characterization of the act itself - for example, killing
is an act that results in death). However, occasionally you will see such statements as
"engineers have an obligation in their work to ensure the public safety," which mean that
engineers are morally required to ensure the public safety but which do not specify what
acts they should or should not perform in order to ensure safety. A legal obligation is a
legal requirement that specifies what types of actions are permitted, forbidden, or
required on legal grounds. Often legal obligations are monetary debts. When we speak
of an obligation without specifying its nature we will mean a moral obligation.
P
PATENT
A (special, alienable, prima facie) legal right granted by the government to use, or at least
(in the case there are other patents which your use of your patent would infringe) to bar
others from using a device, design or type of plant that you have created. (In the US
restrictions last for 17 years for useful devices, and 14 years for designs.) To patent a
device one must prove that it is useful, original and not obvious. Patents are subject to
challenge in court and may be upheld or overturned.
PLAGIARISM
To appropriate the writings, graphic representations or ideas of another person and
represent them as one's own, (that is, without proper attribution). Plagiarism is a form of
intellectual property violation.
PLAINTIFF
Injured party suing to be compensated for an injury or loss.
PREJUDICE
Bias for or against someone or something that fails to take true account of their
characteristics.
PRINCIPAL
A principal in an engineering firm (or other company) is a co-owner, that is, a partner or
stock holder.
PROFESSION
An occupation, the practice of which directly influences human well-being and requires
mastery of a complex body of knowledge and specialized skills, requiring both formal
education and practical experience.
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING
In the United States a "professional engineer" ( P.E.) is a person who is licensed to
practice engineering in a particular state or US territory after meeting all requirements of
the law. To practice in multiple states or territories, the P.E. must be licensed in each state
in which he or she wishes to practice.
PROPRIETARY/ PROPERTY RIGHTS
Proprietary rights, claims, etc. are the rights, claims, etc. of owners. Sorting out the rights
that go with property ownership is rather complicated, both because of the variety of
types of property and because of the problem of sorting out conflicting claims regarding
property and conflicts between property rights and other rights.
R
REPARATIONS
Benefits given to some group to make amends for damage done by previous injustice. For
example, Japanese-Americans who were placed in internment camps during the World
War II were recently given a monetary payment (of about $20,000) as reparations.
Because children may be damaged by injustice done to their forebears, say because
poverty undermines their health or limits their educational opportunities, arguments are
made for reparations to descendants of those who were first injured, if the consequences
of the injury are of the sort that pass from one generation to the next.
RESEARCH MISCONDUCT
This term is used rather narrowly. It does not include all violations of standards of
research ethics. In particular, it is not applied to violations of the norms for the use of
human or animal subjects.
In the U.S. the three actions that were the initial focus of misconduct definitions were



Fabrication
Falsification
Plagiarism
RIGHTS
Claims that have some justification behind them. A moral right is a morally justified
claim. A legal right is a legally justified claim. When we use the term right without
specifying the nature of the justification, we usually mean a moral right. Rights specify
the acts that are permitted, forbidden, or required. If they specify the acts that the rightsholder may perform (such as vote, or drive a car), they are often called licenses. If they
specify acts that others may not perform (as the right to life obliges others to refrain from
killing the rights holder), they are called liberties or (in law)negative rights. If they
specify what the rights-holder should receive, some philosophers (such as Philippa Foot)
call them claim rights. The law calls them positive rights.
Other major types of classifications of rights are

Alienable rights and inalienable rights - Alienable rights may be taken or given
away. Inalienable rights cannot.


Human rights and special rights - Human rights belong to all people, or all
people who are competent to exercise them. (An earlier term that is a close
synonym for human rights is "natural rights.") In contrast, a right that only
belongs to some people is termed a "special" right.
Absolute rights, and prima facie rights - Absolute rights cannot be outweighed
by other considerations. Prima facie rights can be outweighed by other
considerations. For example, many of those who oppose capital punishment say
that the right to life is an absolute right, but those who believe that capital
punishment is morally justified in some circumstances say it is only a prima facie
right.
RISK
Risk is colloquially used as a term for a danger that arises unpredictably, such as being
struck by a car. Sometimes it is used for the likelihood of a particular danger or hazard, as
when someone says, "You can reduce your risk of being hit by a car by crossing at the
crosswalk." When used in technical context, such as "risk assessment" or "risk
management" the notion of risk is the probability or likelihood of some resulting harm
(such as the likelihood of being killed by being struck by a car) multiplied by the
magnitude of the harm. One can then compare, say, the average citizen's risk of death
from crossing the street with such a person's risk of death from cancer in a given period.
One could also compare the risk of harms of different magnitudes. For example, two
monetary risks: the rather likely event of losing a quarter in a broken vending machine,
and the comparatively unlikely loss of one's wallet due to robbery at gun point. It may
turn out that there is a greater risk of monetary loss from out of order vending machines
than from robbery at gun point. Notice that use of the technical sense of risk requires that
one be able to meaningfully quantify the resulting harms. For many harms this is difficult
to do except in an arbitrary way.
S
SCIENTIFIC MISCONDUCT
See Research Misconduct, Fraud, Falsification, Plagiarism.
STAKEHOLDER
A person or group who can affect or is affected by an action. Responsible decision
making requires consideration of the effects on all stakeholders. Usually all stakeholders
are not entitled to consideration of the same aspects of their welfare, however. For
example, a corporate decision may affect or be influenced by employees, stockholders,
customers, suppliers, communities, some government agencies, and corporate
competitors. Competitors are entitled to fairness in competition, but not to the same
consideration as, say, employees.
STANDARD
Something established as a basis of comparison in measuring or judging capacity,
quantity, content, value, quality, etc.; a specified set of safety or performance qualities
which a device or process must possess. These must generally be demonstrated by a
series of tests conducted under pre-determined conditions.
STANDARD OF CARE
The standard of care is the degree of care that a reasonably prudent person would
exercise in the circumstance in question. In negligence law if a person's conduct falls
below such standards, he may be liable in damages for injuries or damages resulting from
his conduct. In professional malpractice cases, a standard of care is applied to measure
the competence as well of the degree of care shown by the professional's actions .
T
TORT
A private or civil (as contrasted with criminal) wrong or injury. Sometimes "tort law" is
used as a general designation to include provisions concerning breaches of contract as
well as a failure in some duty. However, the term, "tort" is commonly used more
narrowly to refer only to specific failure in some recognized duty, or failure to exercise
reasonable prudence or care. In this narrower sense "tort" is contrasted with with "breach
of contract" (failure to fulfill such a legal agreement). (See Black's Law Dictionary.)
TRADEMARK
An officially registered and legally restricted name, symbol or representation, the use of
which is restricted to its owner.
TRADE SECRET
A device, method or formula that gives one an advantage over the competition and which
must therefore be kept secret if it is to be of special value. It is legal to use reverse
engineering to learn a competitor's trade secret. "Know how" concerning research
procedures may function as something like a trade secret.
TRUST
Trust is confident reliance. We may have confidence in events, people, or circumstances,
or at least in our beliefs and predictions about them, but if we do not in some way rely on
them, our confidence alone does not amount to trust. Reliance is a source of risk, and risk
differentiates trusting in something from merely being confident about it. When one is in
full control of an outcome or otherwise immune from disappointment, trust is not
necessary. It is, of course, possible to rely on other people or on circumstances simply
because one lacks other options. Basis for confidence in relying on some person may not
be morally sound. Trust may be naive or otherwise ill-founded. In that case it is likely to
be disappointed.
V
VALUES AND VALUE JUDGMENTS
Value judgments judge things to be good or bad in some respect. Moral or ethical values
are only one type of value and moral evaluation is only one type of value judgment.
Consider the following value judgments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
This is a good (important, significant) hypothesis.
That is a good (insightful or informative) article.
This is a good (beautiful, masterfully executed) symphony.
That is a good (prudent or effective) strategy.
This is a bad (stupid, short-sighted) idea.
That is a good (virtuous, of high moral character) person.
This is a bad (evil, vicious) motive.
That is a good (kind, generous or right-minded) act or deed.
That is the right thing to do.
The first two are judgments of epistemic or knowledge value. The third is an aesthetic
judgment. The fourth and fifth are prudential judgments. The sixth, seventh, and eighth
are moral judgments. The ninth is also a moral judgment that is similar in some respects
to the eighth. However, the presence of "the" rather than "a" in the ninth at least suggests
that the act in question is uniquely acceptable. Assertions such as the ninth are usually
justified by an appeal to moral rules, often to the exclusion of any mention of
consequences. There are other types of value and value judgments that we are less likely
to discuss in this subject, such as religious value. Religious terms of evaluation include
"sacred" and "holy," as contrasted with "profane" and "mundane." In addition to purely
religious standards, most existing religions have moral or ethical standards.
VIRTUES and VICES
Positive and negative traits of moral character, such as honesty, kindness, or being a
courageous or responsible person. Notice that these terms of moral evaluation are applied
to people, rather than to their actions (like rights, obligations, and moral rules) or to the
outcomes they seek to achieve (like responsibilities).
W
WHISTLE-BLOWER
A person who takes a concern (such as a concern about safety, financial fraud, or
mistreatment (of research animals) outside of the organization in which the abuse or
suspected abuse is occurring and with which the whistle-blower is affiliated. Not all
whistle-blowing is equally adversarial to the affected organization, even though it is at
least an embarrassment for an organization to be exposed as one that cannot correct its
own problems. There are many regulatory agencies such as OSHA (the Occupational
Safety and Health Organization) that exist to perform oversight and to which whistleblowers can go anonymously. Going to those charged with oversight, such as regulatory
agencies, is usually seen as much less adversarial than, say, going to the media. Some
people have used the term "whistler-blower" for those who raise an issue within their
organization, but the more general term for a person who raises an issue inside or outside
an organization is "complainant."