Business Ethics
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Now business ethics seems to be an oxymoron in many cases, at least in the US. I read a blog asking if ethics can coexist with business anymore. The blog mentions the need to comply with laws and regulations in local markets. Specifically in this case, Yahoo turning over information to the Chinese government regarding an email it received.
Yahoo cites the need to comply, but shouldn't ethics, especially when dealing with a regime that ignores human rights, come first? Especially China. And especially from corporation founded by Jerry Yang, of Taiwanese descent. Especially since he's old enough to remember Tiananmen Square!!
If you read this nonsense regularly, you've probably guessed that I tend to side with the worker bees. Not that I'm anti-management, but that people are people. Not resources, not numbers, not anything other than living, breathing, fallable, hard working, all-across-the-bell-curve humans. And to me, while a corporation exists to generate profit, while a business needs to be accountable to the shareholders, there also should be some recognition that a corporation can have ethics, principles and ideals that stand above the profit motive.
Believe it or not, you can make a profit while having ethics.
It might not be the most money, might not make you the leader, but it is enough to continue to exist, one of a business's other goals, and enough to satisfy shareholders. There will always be people, and corporations, that lack morals and will do anything to get ahead. That doesn't mean the business world needs to be a "race to the bottom" to make the most money while displaying the least amount of ethics.
Believe it or not, and it's true, there are more important things than money.
Steve Jones
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I've had discussions with others about this (some of whom say Yahoo should just 'obey the law').
It pays to step back, imagine our feelings about an American company that (before WWII) helped the Nazis locate Jews from their customer lists. Is Yahoo doing something qualitatively any different?
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-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
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I have read the source article and I can only compare what Tao is accused of to my sending an e-mail to a freind in say the UK or South Africa telling them that we're under another 'Orange Alert'. It would be laughable in the US (even under this administration) to be jailed for this, yet Shi Tao was convicted of 'divulging state secrets' and sent to prison for 10 years for essentially doing the same thing. And Yahoo greatly assisted the government's case against him.
Now if Tao had been a purveyor of child pornography or something similar, I wouldn't fault Yahoo and I doubt that anyone else would. But his 'crime' was basically just passing along an official bulletin advising agencies to be on the lookout for unrest as the anniversary of the Tienemen Square debacle approached. This is divulging state secrets?
It would be very interesting to know what Microsoft, AOL (COL?) or others would have done in the same situation. But I think one could safely bet the farm that the results would be the same.
Why? China with its emerging technology and infrastructure upgrades (fueled incidentally in a large part by its revenue from exports to the West which are largely manufactured in conditions approaching slave labor) as a consumer base represents a HUGE market to these companies and others. One of the articles compares this environment to the US gold rush in the 1840's. These corporations are not about to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and human rights can just take a back seat for now.
Can business and ethics still co-exist? Yes, in some places. Whether or not they do or will continue to is another matter. A better question might be, can governments and ethics co-exist? Which brings me to a poignant quote I saw on Slashdot today:
"When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty.
When there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace.
When there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice."
Today's test question: Which country has more lawyers per capita than any other in the world? (Hint: Its president is often referred to using only one initial.)
My hovercraft is full of eels.
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I try to understand the the US can be a big bully, and without out a doubt is out for their own interests, including many companies. But helping Nazi's is just as bad or worse.
There are, I think, certain crimes against humanity or human rights are without justification.
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