Ethics of Unsolicited Compromised Data
What would you do if a plain envelope arrived in your business post that included a competitor’s complete client database? This happened to an Australian web design agency and they quickly did the ethical thing… but what would you do?
The Temptation of Knowing vs the Stain of Being Known
Who knows what motivates a disgruntled employee to copy sensitive company information and send it out to competitors? Perhaps the employee was fired, or they didn’t get a Christmas bonus or there’s an office politics issue that needs to be addressed.
Whatever the reason behind the leak, all players in an industry have an active interest in ensuring this does not lead to exploitation.
Of course it’s tempting to have a peek at that database but ask yourself… what if it became known that you did? What would your own clients… not to mention those clients you hope to oneday win from the competitor… think about your indiscretion? It would more than likely backfire and toast your reputation.
Remember that person who anonymously sent you the parcel – they know you received it and you don’t know anything about them except they’re a malicious employee in a competitor’s firm.
The Industry Needs to Operate on Competitive Trust
Let’s look at this from an ethical perspective… what if it was your employee who sent your database to your direct competitor? What would you like (or expect) them to do in response?
On another ethical tangent… what if everybody in the industry were to always take advantage of opportunities to gain access to each others database? Notice the “always”… it’s because if you condone it once for one person you have to condone and expect if of all players in the industry. And if one business were to gain underhanded advantage then it would be right for all people to gain that same advantage?
Where would the industry be? Because we’re talking about the theft of property from another business. I think ethically it’s obvious that if everyone in an industry stole from everyone else in the industry at every opportunity then it would be a rubbish industry. Not only that, but the decent people would go out of business because they’d be constantly stolen from by the unethical bastards taking constant advantage.
Your Options in this Ethical Situation
So I hope we agree that option 1 – viewing the client database – is unthinkable.
Option 2 is to destroy the database and forget you ever saw it – again unthinkable and the assumption is that you have viewed it.
Option 3 is to directly notify the competitor that you received the parcel and are in possession of their client database.
Option 4 is to directly notify the competitor and personally take that database to their offices so that any employees in their firm can see that this is not an action condoned within the industry (remember you or someone you respect might inadvertently hire that employee when they leave your competitor). This also sends an indirect message to the person’s team that they may all be suspect and find employment in other firms difficult in the future if the behaviour persists.
Option 5 is to directly notify the competitor and personally take that database to their offices AND notify the police. After all, a crime has been committed against everyone in the industry – referring back to the ethical discussion.
The Choice will always be Your Choice Alone
Nobody is going to hold you against the wall and force you to open or not open that client database. It’s tempting because it’s knowledge you are constantly trying to find out for yourself as a course of competitive business. However, handling the situation elegantly will not only send a clear message to the industry and improve the playing field for everyone involved… but it will enhance your business reputation.
One of the most valuable assets your business possesses is the ethical playing card. We all begin with it… we only ever get to lose it once. You’re either ethical or unethical. The choice is always your choice alone. If you’re curious, in the case that I mentioned at the beginning it was ethical Option 3 that was chosen.
January 12th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Nice post, Steve. I’ll ask you the same question I asked Miles.
Do you think the web industry is more prone to this kind of bastardry because we’re still riddled with unethical cowboys in a largely unregulated industry with no recognised standards, qualifications or accreditation?
January 13th, 2011 at 10:21 am
No, there are plenty of industries with this issue… every individual wrestles with these decisions on a day-to-day basis. Two major things corporations are doing to turn this around are Codes of Ethics (so people know what the expected behaviours are)… and Ethical Training (which doesn’t make you a saint but at least when you’re unethical you know it’s unethical).
Not Telling… in Miles’ comments… doesn’t get it but that’s probably because he’s never been exposed to either of those things. When you’re standing inside a problem you can’t see it, and No Telling obviously misses it.
I can’t see unethical freelancers doing well above the bottom tier… reputation is everything (although I know of one who is doing quite well in your locality – I name them not due to their capacity to sue my arse off at the drop of a hat).
The real value of those ethical tools is when you have a firm so that your firm’s culture gets cemented with this stuff – this is how we do business in 2011.
But no… there are probably some worse industries around. But I remember seeing a trust chart of industries and we’re pretty much down the bottom with second hand car dealers and the like. Which says we’ve got to look at this seriously eventually.
While Codes of Ethics aren’t enforcable they do offer a “minimum bar” of acceptable industry practice for people to read. It’s their choice entirely to be a cowboy like No Telling though… simply make it clear that you don’t work with or employ people who don’t follow that standard of business behaviour.
Oh and watch out for people who threaten litigation at the drop of a hat. From experience, that’s a pretty good barometer. That sort of businessman thinks sueing is the business version of getting the skinny kid up against the science room wall and emptying their pockets (just my opinion).