Case Analysis: Facebook and Privacy Protection

Choose a recent news/media article that has been published within the last 3 months that concerns a business ethics issues and discuss about it.

The article highlights the issues related to the Facebook big data and breaking the trust of the people and does not follow the ethics and governance. Some case has been discussed in the essay. This case and examples are related to the unethical decisions made by the company and how they affect the workings of the company. The examples discussed are real-life examples of ethical decision making in which the wrong decision in an ethical manner affects the working of the overall business (Droppert and Bennett, 2015).

For this essay, an article from “The Sydney Morning Herald” is chosen. In the essay, the issues related to the Facebook privacy, leakage of personal data by the company. This case discusses the legal obligation faced by the company and its supported members (Lexology, 2018). This case shows the unethical decision taken by the Facebook by leaking the personal data of the person. This leakage of data makes the people leave the Facebook as it is no more reliable in the eyes of society (Filatotchev and Nakajima, 2014)

In the article, the announcement is done by the Apple that they have made a secured app in their phones from which the information cannot be leaked or transmitted to other parties.  This app was designed to protect the privacy, including the features in the Safari browser that will able to block the ad-tech companies from tracking the users building detailed profiles of the people on Facebook and serving them creepy ads as they surf on the internet. The Facebook has sold this data to various countries and companies to know the customer taste and preference in a good amount (Hair et al., 2015).

Apple has claimed that even in the Facebook the comment and share fields are also used by these companies to collect the data. This will give the customer preference and thinking and choice of the people to the companies. Around 87 million people data has been stolen and shared by the other countries.  In this decision has been discussed in which it helps the boards to better understand the distinction between the requirements and needs imposed by the corporate law and governance “best practices” (Ashkanasy, Härtel, and Zerbe,  2016). The parties claimed that the Facebook has breached their fiduciary duties and have used personal data of the Facebook users. The court has acknowledged that the company are found in connection with the violation of rules and regulations and are penalized with an amount of $2 trillion by the Federal Trade Commission (Jennings, 2014). 

Apple: A Responsible Approach to Cybersecurity

The issue has been highlighted in the Facebook which has spoiled the image of the company in the eyes of its users. Users are not using the Facebook due to the fear of sharing of their data. After the scandal of the data sharing, the governance has been flagged for years as the company scores highly in other areas which mean its rating has remained relatively high. The activity done by the Facebook is not considered as the socially responsible action by the investor. Facebook is atop 10 holding SRI (Socially responsible investment) funds thanks to a good environmental track record but the Cambridge Analytic data scandal should give investors a reason to reconsider (Leach, 2014).

This is found to be the prime example of the difference between the best practical and legal obligation. Best practices are generally referred to as the behaviour or conduct performed by the individual who is beyond the basic or minimum legal standards. Yet as the Facebook, the best practices are aspirational goals, not legal requirements. There occurs no overwhelming legal mandatory for the approval, and a choice of not doing the same is not an indication of break of fiduciary duty. The company has breach the basic requirements of the personal sharing data of the consumer which hurts the sentiments of the people at large (Quinn, 2014). 

The ethical decisions discussed in the article is related to the corporate governance which reflects the issue related to how the organization makes the policies, rules, practices, and regulations made in the organization by which a business can be directed and controlled easily (Hair Jr et al., 2015). In the article, the governance is followed by the Apple by making changes in the technology of their smartphones as Apple is also found included in the scandal in that 60 manufacture of the smartphones who takes the data from the Facebook. This shows that the Apple is being responsible towards the society. The corporate social responsibility is fulfilled by the company but because of the legal implications involved, the company finds hard to complete its responsibility towards the society (Liedong et al., 2015).

The most appropriate ethical decision is the one which develops the trust, indicates the responsibility towards society and other individual affected by the decision, fairness and caring for an individual. To be ethical in decision making the business has to show the respect and responsibility. This will be shown by CEO of Apple Tim Cook which talked in an interview about the privacy credentials and his disdain for the cavalier approach of other tech companies that is Facebook and Google on data collection were unmistakable. In the article, Apple took a stand for the public interest against the Facebook which shows that it knows the privacy issues are important to its users and critical for its business (Walker et al., 2014).

The Importance of Ethical Decision Making in Corporate Governance

Not only the Apple has taken measures for the same but Facebook also has taken several measures to improve its governance in the environment. The company has introduced various products and services through strict data privacy and security testing. The company privacy experts and legislatures are meeting to solve this problem. The company has also taken various steps to measure the leakage of the private data of its users. Moreover, the company has put various restrictions on the data application also (Ramasundara, 2018).

From the above case analysis, it can be concluded that the Facebook has taken the unethical decisions by leaking the personal data of its users, their preference, and taste. The company corporate governance has been reduced due to this theft of data but now the company is taking some steps in an ethical manner to improve its governance by introducing various measures of privacy principles.

The company can implement the ethical decision-making process to give the decision about the business ethics which are faced by the user data theft. This process includes the various steps including the moral philosophy that Facebook can practice to make a decision regarding the above business ethics issues (Ruggiero, 2014).

Identify the ethical issue

The first step is to find out the ethical issue in the decision-making process. In case of Facebook, the company is facing the issue related to the data privacy theft.

Collect the relevant information

In this step, the company has to find out the relevant information about which the ethics of the business has been not followed. In this investigation, it was found that the Cambridge Analytica firm has accessed the data of its users from process (Teulon, 2014).

Evaluate the information

The above information can be evaluated by the regulators and privacy experts so that they can be able to find out the reason for the same. After doing the evaluation, it has been found that the company is failed to comply with the privacy of data with the data protection Act and European Data Protection Law.

Consider the alternatives

By making a committee, the company has discussed the entire case with the team and privacy experts. Under this, the privacy steps and principles are made by the committee. The company can also use the developers to stop the leakage of the data (The Economic Times, 2018).

Make a decision

After analyzing all the alternatives, the best alternatives will be selected by the experts. The company can make decisions complying with the moral philosophy of the Deontology. Under this philosophy of Deontology, the normative ethical position of the situation is judged which will helps in deciding the morality of the action based on the rules. Deontology is basically focussed on the ethical code of conduct and the ethics followed in the organization. This moral philosophy can be described as the obligation or duty as the rules bind a business to its duty. In the case of Facebook, the company has leaked its data to other people which are considered to be the break of trust. It is the moral responsibility of the Facebook to protect the data of its users. The company should comply with the data protection laws Sydney Morning (Herald, 2018).

Implementing Ethical Decision Making in Organizations

Act or implement

In this step, the implementation of the decision is done by the top level of the company. In case of Facebook, the Mark Zuckerburg follows this policy in the organization and practice to protect the data of its users. This will include the privacy protection as a part of its corporate social responsibility (Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2016).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the taking the ethical decisions is must as taking the financing decision of the company. Each and every organization should work in compliance with its code of conduct and relevant laws. The essay includes the business ethics that is faced by Facebook. As Facebook is the world’s most used social media network are highlighted that the unethical decision has been made by the company. The case discusses the new strategies developed by the Apple to overcome the problem of cybercrime by following the corporate governance in the organization. The company should make efforts to control the safety of data of its users. The company has introduced the new ad technology in its phone that will not allow data to share. It will help the organization to sustain in the market for the long period of time and can able to regain the trust of the public. Public trust is considered to be the success for the business.

References

Ashkanasy, N.M., Härtel, C.E. and Zerbe, W.J. (2016) Introduction. In Emotions and Organizational Governance (pp. xvii-xviii). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Droppert, H. and Bennett, S. (2015) Corporate social responsibility in global health: an exploratory study of multinational pharmaceutical firms. Globalization and health, 11(1), pp.15.

Filatotchev, I. and Nakajima, C. (2014) Corporate governance, responsible managerial behavior, and corporate social responsibility: Organizational efficiency versus organizational legitimacy?. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(3), pp.289-306

Hair Jr, J.F., Wolfinbarger, M., Money, A.H., Samouel, P. and Page, M.J. (2015) Essentials of business research methods.
Oxon: Routledge

Jennings, M.M. (2014) Business: Its legal, ethical, and global environment. Ontario: Nelson Education.

Leach, C.J., Hodgson, L., Defever, E. and Ives, R. (2014) Communicating risk and shared decision-making in osteopathic practice: a pilot study using focus groups to test a patient information leaflet. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 6(4), pp.478-487.

Lexology. (2018) Corporate law and governance update [online] Available at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7fe81012-890a-4c70-bc05-19cef7295b13 [Accessed on: 16^th June 2018].

Liedong, T.A., Ghobadian, A., Rajwani, T. and O’Regan, N. (2015) Toward a view of complementarity: trust and policy influence effects of corporate social responsibility and corporate political activity. Group & Organization Management, 40(3), pp.405-427.

Quinn, M.J. (2014) Ethics for the information age. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Shapiro, J.P. and Stefkovich, J.A. (2016) Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. United Kingdom: Routledge.

Walker, P.H., Seuring, P.S., Sarkis, P.J. and Klassen, P.R. (2014) Sustainable operations management: recent trends and future directions. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 34(5).

Ramasundara, Y. (2018) Facebook: a canary in the data goldmine [Online] Available from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/opinion/facebook-a-canary-in-the-data-goldmine/news-story/3ab29bf5005b512d4ad5cbfd3d1c6d88 [Accessed on: 16^th June 2018].

Ruggiero, V. (2014) Thinking critically about ethical issues. US: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Teulon, F. (2014) Ethics, moral philosophy and Economics. Financial Economics, pp.28-8.

The Economic Times (2018) Can Facebook restore public trust after privacy scandal? [online] Available from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/internet/can-facebook-restore-public-trust-after-privacy-scandal/articleshow/63445157.cms. [Accessed on: 16^th June 2018].

Sydney Morning Herald. (2018) Apple joins the war on Facebook over privacy [Online] Available from: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/apple-joins-the-war-on-facebook-over-privacy-20180607-p4zk3n.html [Accessed on: 16^th June 2018