The term ethics in the simple and most basic sense refers to the acceptable set of conducts and behaviors that are universally permissible in the human society. Ethics borders on morality and fairness. In brief, what is ethical ought to be fair, acceptable and permissible to the human race regardless of the circumstance or the location of the persons affected. For the purpose of this essay, we will present in details the ethical issues surrounding the matter where the NSA intercepted and physically altered Cisco routers. This situation means that the NSA has an unlimited access to all people who use the Cisco networks. Cisco’s reputation and integrity may be cast with doubts and aspersions. People or the customers and the clients who use Cisco in the long term may lose confidence and trust because their security and privacy is not guaranteed (Mullens 41).
A typical instance is the fact that, other stakeholders’ and more specifically, the competitors are surely set to maximize on the bad publicity that Cisco has earned due to the actions of NSA. It would be bad business for them, because their competitors will seek to restore the confidence which was betrayed it. The direct impact to the general community and the government by extension is loss of confidence and trust. People question the extent to which their governments can invade their privacy in the name of spying. Any subsequent explanation that may come from the government will not convince and satisfy the hurt persons, because spying on their privacy is an irrevocable mistake.
In order to tackle this, we established a theoretical framework under which to operate and substantiate the topical matter. In the field of social ethics, morality is considered as one of the irreducible minimums in terms of principle. Morality also translates to the freedoms and the basic rights that a person may enjoy and is entitled to. One of the fundamental moral rights is the right to privacy. Privacy in this sense means that a person can pursue happiness within a personal and private space without the interference of another person or party. It becomes even worse when the personal space of a person is invaded without the consent of the same person. It equals to a double tragedy of sorts. This extends to the whole community at large, because any human being who might have purchased the products and services of Cisco would be exposed to the danger of being spied upon by NSA (MacKinnon 124).
In brief, the government as an agency and all the other respective agencies are supposed to uphold the rules and freedoms laid down in the constitution. The right to privacy is certainly one of the rights that the constitution guarantees and sets out that all the persons, parties and the government by extension ought to strive to enhance. In this instance, the very same government that is supposed to safeguard these basic freedoms is the very same government that is seeking for ways to break and curtail these freedoms. Thus, if not addressed then the whole community will hold the government especially NSA in contempt and lose the respect it has given it over the years (Hoffmann 63).
There are remedies that could be employed to avert such a scenario in future, firstly, is the setting up of rules and guidelines on how NSA collects information as it regards to the privacy of people. Thus would ensure that there publicly known red lights that NSA cannot cross whatsoever, in the name of spying. Secondly, is that there are policies to safeguard the concerned parties against the effects of spying from the NSA. This would spare the public and the company the ordeal of spying from NSA.
Works Cited
Mullens, Jo B, and Prudence H. Cuper. Fostering Global Citizenship Through Faculty-Led International Programs. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub, 2012. Print.
Hoffmann, Matthew J. Climate Governance at the Crossroads: Experimenting with a Global Response After Kyoto. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Internet resource.
MacKinnon, Rebecca. Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2012. Print.
