It seems that in the electronic age the issue of privacy might seem as one of the greatest topics that bring the attention of the society. Such topic arose after 9/11, and still makes an appearance once a scandal occurs in the media. After all, the right to privacy is protected by constitution, and thus, the significance of such issue cannot be questioned. One of the cases touching on the issue of privacy is directly related to business ethics and corporate responsibility. Patricia Dunn, chairman of the board inn Hewlett Packard (HP) knowing of a leak in the board of directors, hired a firm, which hired another firm, which used controversial methods to find the source of the leak (Kaplan, 2006; Rasch, 2006). The method is pretexting – pretending to be someone else to get information, or simply deceiving (Rasch, 2006). The leaker was identified, the case went public, and subsequently Dunn had to resign, being charged with orchestrating this investigation. Should she have been forced to resign? As a short answer, yes.
First of all, in order to resolve the legal aspect of Dunn’s involvement, it can be stated that hiring a company with a firm intention to identify the leaker, she had to have an expectation, if not awareness, of the methods such information will be gathered. Thus, the assessment of Dunn’s actions is taken in the context of her involvement in the practice of pretexting, i.e. the main question is whether her actions is a sufficient cause for her forced resignation.
Taking a deontological approach, Dunn’ actions were generally embedded in her responsibility to act in the good of a company. However, was the action of forcing Dunn’s resignation was morally acceptable? Deontology focuses on the action itself, and the will of agents (Kay, 1997). In deontological approach, the action itself is ethical, for many reasons, whether it is the doubtful nature of Dunn’s techniques which cannot be verified to be “complied in all respects with applicable law” (Kaplan, 2006), the invasion on privacy, and shattering the reputation of the company. Thus, as an absolute decision, forcing Dunn to resign can be seen ethical, where the act itself is ethical, in response to questionable behavior, and the will of the board can be assumed to be ethical, which is increasing the environment of trust in the board, its privacy expectations, and restoring its functioning.
In a utilitarian sense, in which the options is considered based on greatest utility different options offer, it can be stated that there is no clear opinion here. The maximum benefit and the least harm is evaluated based on two options leave Dunn at her position or force her to resign. The benefits of Dunn’s resignation in practical terms can be seen through condemning the practices used by Dunn in the future, which in addition to pretexting contained other computer related crimes, such as “unauthorized access” to a computer, or “exceeding the scope of authorization” to access a computer (Rasch, 2006). Keeping Dunn at her position might lead to certain harmful effects, such as the possibility of her being charged with criminal offences, a possibility that might be reflected on the reputation of the company and its stock value. Linking the benefits of Dunn’s actions to the threats of corporate espionage is vague, where despite the loss companies incur from deliberately or inadvertently disclosing confidential or sensitive information (Porter Ii & Griffaton, 2003, p. 69), the practices themselves are related to employees’ workplace. The actions taken by Dunn are related to the violation of reasonable privacy, which board members were expecting (McArthur, 2001).
Thus, it can be concluded that the decision to force Dunn’s resignation is acceptable, despite of the intentions she had when tracking the leak. Long term effects such as the reputation of the company, which will be historically associated with the scandal, should be also taken in consideration.
References
Kaplan, D. A. (2006). Suspicions and Spies in Silicon Valley. Newsweek Business. Web.
Kay, C. D. (1997). Notes on DEONTOLOGY. Wofford College.
McArthur, R. L. (2001). Reasonable expectations of privacy. Ethics and Information Technology, 3, 123-128.
Porter Ii, W. G., & Griffaton, M. C. (2003). Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Monitoring the Electronic Workplace. [Article]. Defense Counsel Journal, 70(1), 65.
Rasch, M. (2006). Liar, Liar, and Pretexting. Security Focus. Web.