What is legal protection afforded an expression of an idea such as a song video game and some types of proprietary documents?

Ian Clarke, the inventor of a file-swapping service called Freenet, decided to leave the United States for the United Kingdom, where copyright laws are more lenient. Wayne Rosso, the inventor of a file-sharing service called Grokster, left the United States for Spain, again saying goodbye to tough U.S. copyright protections. The U.S. copyright laws, designed decades before the invention of the Internet, make file sharing and many other Internet technologies illegal. Although some individuals use file sharing in unethical manners, such as downloading music and movies illegally, file sharing has many positive benefits, such as improving drug research, software development, and the flow of information.1

   The ethical issues surrounding copyright infringement and intellectual property rights are consuming the ebusiness world. Advances in technology make it easier for people to copy everything from music to pictures. Technology poses new challenges for our ethics Principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people.—the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people. Review Figure 4.1 for an overview of concepts, terms, and ethical issues stemming from advances in technology.

   The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) began inquiries into Enron's accounting practices on October 22, 2001. David Duncan, the Arthur Andersen partner in charge of Enron, instructed his team to begin destroying paper and electronic Enron-related records on October 23, 2001. Kimberly Latham, a subordinate to Duncan, sent instructions on October 24, 2001, to her entire team to follow Duncan's orders and even compiled a list of computer files to delete. Arthur Andersen blames Duncan for destroying thousands of Enron-related documents. Duncan blames the Arthur Andersen attorney, Nancy Temple, for sending him a memo instructing him to destroy files. Temple blames Arthur Andersen's document deletion policies.2

   Regardless of who is to blame, the bigger issue is that the destruction of files after a federal investigation has begun is both unethical and illegal. A direct corporate order to destroy information currently under federal investigation poses a dilemma for any professional. Comply, and you participate in potentially criminal activities; refuse, and you might find yourself looking for a new job.

   Privacy is one of the largest ethical issues facing organizations. Privacy The right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent. is the right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent. Privacy is related to confidentiality The assurance that messages and information are available only to those who are authorized to view them., which is the assurance that messages and information are available only to those who are authorized to view them. Some of the most problematic decisions facing organizations lie in the murky and turbulent waters of privacy. The burden comes from the knowledge that each time employees make a decision regarding issues of privacy, the outcome could potentially sink the company.

   Trust between companies, customers, partners, and suppliers is the support structure of ebusiness. One of the main ingredients in trust is privacy. Privacy continues to be one of the primary barriers to the growth of ebusiness. People are concerned their privacy will be violated because of interactions on the web. Unless an organization can effectively address this issue of privacy, its customers, partners, and suppliers might lose trust in the organization, which would hurt its business. In keeping with its mandate to gather intelligence, the CIA is watching YouTube. U.S. spies, now under the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), are looking increasingly online for intelligence; they have become major consumers of social media. “We're looking at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence,” said Doug Naquin, director of the DNI Open Source Center. “We're looking at chat rooms and things that didn't exist five years ago, and trying to stay ahead. We have groups looking at what they call ‘Citizens Media’: people taking pictures with their cell phones and posting them on the Internet.” Figure 4.2 displays the results from a CIO survey as to how privacy issues reduce trust for ebusinesses.