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substantial backlash from customers claiming they were aiding delicious-tasting hamburgers at the seedy bar down the
the U.S. government in their efforts to erode their civil liberties. street or stop going there because you’re worried credit
Edward Snowden commented on PRISM, saying, “If we card charges could be used against you somehow? Would
want to be free, we can’t become subject to surveillance. We you still hang out with friends from other countries or
17
can’t give away our privacy.” James R. Clapper, director of stop because you’re worried it might somehow prevent
National Intelligence, stated “the unauthorized disclosure you from getting a security clearance? Would you have
of information about this important and entirely legal pro- behaved differently on your date last week if a parent was
gram is reprehensible and risks important protections for silently taking notes in the back seat?
18
the security of Americans.” White House Spokesman Josh
Earnest summed it up by saying, “The President welcomes The Trade-off in Organizations
a discussion of the trade-offs between security and civil Understanding the trade-off between security and free-
liberties.” 19 dom will help you see the rationale behind organizational
For centuries people have known that security comes at security policies and procedures. You’ll understand that
a cost. Jean Jacques Rosseau’s 1762 book The Social Contract someone touting improved security is also indirectly ad-
or Principles of Political Right quotes Count Palatine of Posen vocating a loss of freedom in some manner. The contrary
in Latin: “Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servi- is also true.
tutem,” which translates as “I prefer dangerous freedom over For example, some people find the PRISM monitoring
peaceful slavery.” to be too invasive. They want to live their lives without their
So, the important question becomes, when you look government spying on them. But monitoring does have its
through NSA’s PRISM do you see it providing increased benefits. It could be used to make you safer by stopping a
security or reducing your freedom from being observed, in terrorist attack. Similarly, employee monitoring can be seen
other words, your privacy? Put another way, are you con- as too invasive. But it can also be used to reduce theft. In the
cerned about being more secure or having more freedom in end, it’s a balancing act.
your life? Undoubtedly your values, beliefs, and past experi- Can you have both great security and lots of freedom?
ences color your answers to these questions. Information security managers try to do just that. They try
Another way to think about this trade-off is to to prevent losses like data theft (security) while enabling in-
imagine how your behavior might change if you were novation (freedom). In short, they try to be like bulletproof
constantly being monitored. Would you still get those glass—protective and transparent.

DisCussion Questions

1. Using both the categorical imperative (pages 20–21) and have been discovered. Were Snowden’s actions ethical?
utilitarianism (pages 56–57), assess the ethics of spying. Consider both the categorical imperative and utilitari-
Consider a government spying on its own citizens, foreign anism perspectives in your response.
militaries, foreign governments, foreign corporations, or 4. What is your opinion of employee monitoring? What
foreign citizens. effect does employee monitoring have on employee mo-
2. Describe what you think should be done with the NSA’s rale? How could employee monitoring make the organi-
PRISM program. Should it be continued without change, zation more secure?
given more public oversight, substantially reduced in 5. Describe the differences between freedom and privacy.
functionality, or discontinued altogether? Justify your Does a loss of privacy always mean a loss of freedom? If
decision. so, freedom from what? Can you lose freedom without
3. Without the illegal disclosure of top-secret documents losing privacy? Describe how your conclusions about
by Edward Snowden, the PRISM program may never the differences in these words pertain to PRISM.

17 Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Bill Dedman, and Mark Schone, “Traitor or Patriot? Edward Snowden Sits Down with Brian Williams,” NBC News,
May 28, 2014, www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview/traitor-or-patriot-edward-snowden-sits-down-brian-williams-n117006.
18 Charlie Savage, Edward Wyatt, Peter Baker, and Michael Shear, “Intelligence Chief Calls Leaks on U.S. Data Collection ‘Reprehensible,’ ”
The New York Times, June 7, 2013, accessed June 28, 2014, www.nytimes.com/2013/06/08/us/intelligence-chief-calls-leaks-on-us-data-collection-
reprehensible.html.
19 Ibid.
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