Tag Archives: ethics

I’m sure not many of you are following the latest development in Torrent Spy saga out in LA.  Having already won a major judgment against Torrent Spy, the MPAA got sued for illegally obtaining emails from Torrent Spy from a former employee who hacked into the system.  The suit was thrown out using highly technical definitions (you can read about it here – it just makes your head hurt).  The decision is being appealed.

My point isn’t that the decision isn’t good, bad or indifferent.  What I can’t understand is the thinking of the individuals running the MPAA.  How is is OK to hire someone to steal information?  If a former bank employee went back into the bank’s computer and pulled up your financial records to give to an enemy, how is that fine because they technically had access and the records were where they were supposed to be?

The organization also said it originally believed the e-mails had been obtained legally. “It was only through discovery in this case that we learned that he had engaged in conduct that violated the law. We do not condone it, we repudiate it,” the group said in a statement.

You want to repudiate it?  Drop the damages you won in the suit.  Someone acting on your behalf broke the rules.  You need to call a penalty on yourself.

As businesspeople, we sometimes do things that we know, as human beings, are wrong.  We use “it’s business” to justify what is an utterly contemptible act committed to help our revenues, help our careers, etc.  How about we all try to do better?