Business Ethics：”Do not take advantage of vulnerable people”
Google, Facebook and Twitter and other companies issued an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, saying that recent revelations have “highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide.”
As we have learnt in class, if you want to be a business ethics leader, you should have certain basic qualities; not taking advantage or even protecting vulnerable people is one of them. Vulnerable people do not only imply people with disability. Compared with the American government, American citizens are also vulnerable people.
Ever since the 9/11 attacks, NSA has increased security efforts and created more technology that enables it to collect data on any person deemed suspicious or dangerous to the safety of the United States of America. For example, in order to track a terrorist, NSA is authorized to collect data on cell phone calls with Verizon.
Although American citizens have already given the government and other corporations enormous information about their daily life through social media, citizens still feel that their privacy has been stolen when the government collects their personal information without their knowledge or permission. Privacy does not mean keeping everything personally, but means having the freedom to decide who sees personal information. The government infringes upon citizens’ right to privacy with these secret actions.
NSA continues to claim that all surveillance is to find terrorists, but because citizens do not know exactly what the NSA has done, they are unlikely to believe NSA. NSA’s domestic surveillance is an invisible chain unlawfully binding Americans to the government and definitely an abuse of power. It is social media companies’ responsibility to stand out and protect vulnerable people from taking advantage of them.
Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg posted a plea on his social networking, advocating President Obama to make the change of the government’s covert surveillance tactics. Zuckerberg’s statement shows his business ethics to protect customers’ privacy.
Reference
“UPDATED NSA spying: Facebook, Google, Twitter demand controls” http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/nsa-spying-facebook-google-twitter-demand-controls-1.2456259
“Facebook’s Zuckerberg lashes out at Obama over NSA spy program”http://rt.com/usa/zuckerberg-calls-obama-nsa-spying-682/