Ethics and tech – a double-edged sword; Computer Weekly, May 2018

James Kitching, Computer Weekly; Ethics and tech – a double-edged sword

"Big corporations can no longer afford to ignore ethics in their decision-making. Customers expect a higher level of social capital from the companies they deal with and this can have a big effect on whether those companies succeed or fail.

This is not a new conundrum specific to tech – remember the UK hearings relating to tax avoidance, which included the likes of Starbucks as well as Google. What accountants were advising their clients wasn’t illegal. The creative schemes they came up with were allowed under UK law – but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the way they were dealing with tax was seen by the public and the media as immoral and unethical.

Organisations must think beyond the black-and-white letter of the law. In the current climate, this means saying: “Yes, this is legal, but I don’t necessarily think it is going to be viewed as socially acceptable.”

 Gone are the days when the excuse “but it is legal” will wash with the media, the government and the public at large."