What happens when you find some information you shouldn’t know about in the workplace, but it could give you a big advantage if you can use it? Certainly, it’s not legal to acquire information if you trespass in a private area, such as going through someone’s desk or locker. It can be illegal to eavesdrop on a private conversation, particularly if someone is talking in his or her private office or you pick up the exchange on your cordless or cellular phone.
But what if you come upon the information in a perfectly legal way, such as when someone leaves an open folder on a desk in the conference room or posts a file in the wrong place on the company intranet, so others can access it freely for several days before he or she takes it down. Or suppose in doing a Web search, you find private information developed by a competing company that has been posted where anyone can access it, though certainly the company didn’t intend to make this information public. What do you do? Should you use this information if it will help you or your company? Apart from the ethics of using it, what are the risks of using it if you get caught?
That’s the issue that faced Sam, who had a job doing research for a marketing company. The company was involved in recruiting interviewees, facilitating focus groups, and writing up the results for its clients—and now it needed some funding to keep going, while it sought out new clients during an economic slowdown. Among other things, Sam was supposed to gather information for a database listing potential leads for investors, and such information was not easy to come by.
There were several directories he could access online, but he had to copy and reformat the data. The lists he could purchase from list brokers were already set up for mailing, but were fairly expensive. Meanwhile, the marketing company had a tight budget, and Sam knew his job was on the line if he didn’t obtain the information quickly enough, so the company could start using it to contact potential investors.
Then in surfing the Web, Sam lucked into a bonanza. He found a Web page with a series of data files with the names of venture capitalists, contact information, and descriptions of the types of projects they were interested in financing. The files had been put online by another marketing company that was collecting similar information. Obviously, the information was not supposed to be released to the public generally, since there were no links to it from the company’s main site. But the Web page turned up in the course of an ordinary Google search. The average person surfing the Web wouldn’t find it if he or she took the first dozen or so links that turned up in a search. But Sam knew how to put in a series of terms to narrow the search and then had checked out the first 50 links listed, and one led him to the databases posted on the other company’s site. So he hadn’t hacked in or done anything illegal to get there.
Now that he had this information, what should he do? Should he use it or not? Even if he could use it legally, what about ethically? Could there be any problems down the road if he did?
What Should Sam Do?
Here are some possibilities. In Sam’s place, what would you do and why? What do you think the outcomes of these different options would be?
- Keep quiet about the information he has found, so he won’t be under any pressure from Ted to use it, since this is private information and no one should use it.
- Tell Ted about the information he discovered, but refuse to do anything with it once he hears the lawyer say they shouldn’t use the other company’s data.
- Realize that Ted’s idea of cleaning and testing the data and then combining it with other data is the smart thing to do.
- Quit his job, because he is being told to engage in actions that are ethically questionable, and could have legal consequences if discovered.
- Send an anonymous e-mail to the other company telling them their data is exposed on the Internet and not do anything with it himself, including informing Ted that it is there.
- Other?
In this case, Sam first went to his boss, Ted, to help him decide. But Ted wasn’t sure either, although he felt if the information was out there and anyone could use it, why not use it, too? "After all, if they’re so dumb to post it on a Web site that anyone can access, it isn’t confidential information any more, is it? And there’s no copyright on the information in a list. So why not use it, if we can, especially if it will save us thousands upon thousands of dollars, which will help our company to survive." Then, Ted praised Sam for his great work in uncovering this Web site treasure trove of information.
So Sam headed back to his office, thinking that Ted’s assessment made practical sense and was ready to make use of the data. But then Sam realized maybe there could be some way their competitor might realize they had used their information, such as by seeding the list with a few of their own names, so they would get any mailing. Then, if they did, they would know.
At once, Sam realized the potential danger. What if the other company found out? Could they retaliate legally or otherwise? Accordingly, the next step was consulting the company lawyer. His assessment: you can certainly compete by contacting the same venture capitalists, but just don’t use the other company’s data. The problem? Even though Sam had acquired the information legally and the company couldn’t copyright the information itself, there could be a potential charge of unfair competition or the use of trade secrets, possibly resulting in a lawsuit should they find out.
But what if they didn’t? And what if there was no way to prove they did? That’s what Ted suggested their strategy should be, and so he directed Sam to examine the database closely, along with the company’s Web site, to look for any listings that might be private ones belonging to those in the company and take them out. He suggested doing a test mailing after that using an e-mail from one of the free services, where you can create an e-mail account within minutes and sign up under any name you create. Then, if the test was successful and no one questioned receiving the mailing, they could use the data for a real mailing in the future, and they could eliminate anyone who raised questions from the data. "And no one will have the slightest idea who we are," said Ted.
Finally, Ted recommended using that database to get started, and then Sam could integrate other data from the online directories and lists. "This way, the data you have will be enough to get us started. Then, when we incorporate the other information, it becomes our own database with information we have gotten from multiple sources. And it’s information that comes from many different places, so there’s no way to claim we took someone else’s database."
So with Ted’s blessing, Sam checked over and used the other company’s database to get started, and after testing he combined it with other data. The results? Very successful when the company found a venture capital firm to provide the additional funding it needed to maintain and later expand it’s business. Sam got a raise and promotion, too, though sometimes he wondered later on whether he had in fact done the right thing. Was he right to feel twinges of conscience? Had he violated any ethical principles? Or was he just being old-fashioned, since Ted’s strategy had proved very successful. There had been no legal challenge and the other company never found out, so the strategy passed the practical muster. But was it the right thing to do? Sam was never quite sure, and eventually his conscience stopped bothering him, since nothing can quiet such qualms as well as success.
What should you do if you are in a similar situation where you have access to valuable information and have gained that access quite legally, although there may be some ethical questions about whether to use it? Perhaps a big issue to consider here is your own ethics and the situation itself, because people have many different ethical approaches. These range from those who feel they have to do everything by the article and follow traditional morality to those who feel it is appropriate to make or break the rules and value doing what’s pragmatic over following particular moral principles. Then, too, what system is appropriate can depend on the particular situation.
For example, in a competitive business environment, it doesn’t always work very well to apply the same ethical system you might follow with friends, family, or close business associates to dealing with competitors, or you will get creamed in the real business world. In fact, some companies hire specialists in corporate espionage as a way to get ahead, and you don’t hear about those who gain their behind-the-scenes intelligence quietly and successfully. So sometimes to survive or thrive you may need to consider more practical and strategic options that you might not want to use with a close friend or mate. After all, the business world is like being on a battlefield and arming yourself as if going to war if you are truly seeking to win. Sometimes you may have to shoot if you have the opportunity, rather than taking no action and getting shot yourself. As an example, think of Microsoft versus Netscape. Microsoft eventually won the browser wars by taking advantage of every opportunity that presented itself; it didn’t worry whether doing so was the "gentlemanly" thing to do.
Thus, if you find yourself with a sudden advantage you didn’t expect, use it if you can. Don’t do anything illegal or anything that can get you in trouble or discovered by others. But if it’s practical, think about how you can seize the moment. If someone else’s mistake or release of useful information gives you an opportunity, why not use it? That’s what generals and soldiers on the battlefield do all the time. So why not do the same at work or in business. If it’s a winning opportunity with little risk of losing, go take it to win.
Today’s Take-Aways:
- There are no absolutes, even when it comes to moral andethical considerations. Sometimes there are just wars when it comes to work and business issues, too.
- There’s a difference between what’s ethical and what’s legal.While ethical and moral ideals may come into play in a particular situation, sometimes it pays to do the legal and practical thing.
- Different people have different definitions of what’s ethical, so what’s right to one person may not be to someone else; and what one person sees as ethical another may see as not the smart thing to do.
- Do you want to be right or successful? Sometimes what’s "right to do" is what’s ideally "right." In other cases, what’s "right to do" is what’s practical, because the world of work and business is sometimes like a battlefield. So you have to think like a general to win.