We’ve become accustomed in recent years to hearing reports of newly uncovered ethical scandals involving well-known, and often well-respected, corporations. These scandals most often involve fraud: the use of ponzi schemes and false-advertising to con clients out of considerable sums of money. With the recent arrest and trial of Bernie Madoff fresh in the minds of North Americans, people are taking precautions to ensure that they do not fall victims to such schemes. Because of this current trend of fraud, it came as a surprise to me to read about a different type of ethical misconduct: that of computer giant Hewlett Packard.
Hewlett Packard Spying Scandal
In short, HP executives were discovered to be employing information theft to set up a wire-tapping system that was keeping tabs on hundreds of fellow executives, employees, journalists and clients. Despite the obvious violation of basic ethical principles such as the right to privacy, the implications of HP’s actions set my mind thinking. One would assume that if a company chooses to hire an employee or executive, they have a certain amount of trust that that employee will conduct themselves with the company’s best interests in mind. Why, then, should the company find it necessary to monitor employees’ conversations? By simply hiring trustworthy, honest employees, this gross violation of rights would be entirely avoidable.