Running head: ETHICAL THEORIES

Apple Vs FBI

Name of the student:

Name of the University:

Author note
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Introduction

Ethics are the moral principle that is inbuilt to a human being and decides the behavior of

the person at large. The analysis of the ethics of person is a separate stream in psychology. For

the purpose of ethical analysis, there are various theories and principles that act as the foundation

for ethical analysis (Noddings, 2013). In this essay analysis of a recent ICT, the topic has been

taken for analyzing the topic given two ethical theories. The ICT topic that has been selected for

this work is ‘Apple vs. FBI: All you need to know'(know, 2016). The two theories that have been

taken for comparing and contrasting the topic are theConsequentialist Theories and the

Deontological Theories.

Analysis of the topic from the perspective of Ethical theories

Ethical theories

The ethical theories that have been formulated till date can be categories into three

groupsthey namely, the ‘Virtue Theories’, ‘Consequentialist theories’ and ‘Deontological

theories’(THEORIES OF ETHICS - School of Education - Syracuse University, 2016). The

‘Virtue theories' formulated by Aristotle deals with the ethics that allows a human to follow the

most virtuous path. In a dilemma whether to lie, lying is less virtuous compared to saying truth

thus becoming a major factor in making an ethical decision (LaFollette, 2014). The

‘Consequentialist Theories’ categorizes the outcomes into intrinsically good or intrinsically bad.

For this ethical theories, something has to be made intrinsically good, and something has to

intrinsically bad, this theory is more generalization of the ‘Virtuous Theories’ (Cohen-Almagor,

2014). The last categories of the theories are the ‘Deontological theories’, according to this
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theory the actions cannot be termed good or bad. One has to do what is right, that need not

always be righteous to others (Broad, 2014).

Ethical issues in the selected article

The article that has been taken for analysis discusses the tussle between the famous

electronic giant Apple Inc. and FBI. Apple was asked by the Federal Judge to help FBI unlock

the phone of the terrorist Syed Farook, who was responsible for shooting down 14 people dead,

for retrieval of sensitive data regarding the terrorist organization. Apple phones are one of the

safest phones in the world, ten unsuccessful attempts will erase all the data inside the phone and

the encryption used by the phone is off the top notch. The request of the Federal Judge was

turned down citing the privacy of the user, even stating the infamous FBI snooping around the

life of people of USA. There are two ethical possibilities of the outcome which has been

discussed in the following section.

‘The Decision take n by Apple Inc. is Unethical’

It is already known that, 14 people lost their life because of the heinous crime committed

by the terrorist, the terrorist used the phone of the company to communicate with the

stakeholders of the project. Hence it is an ethical obligation of the company to unlock the phone

and share the relevant data with the FBI so that such acts are never committed again. According

to Stuart Mill, A utilitarian consequentialist; morally right actions create maximum happiness. In

the case, there was a huge anger among the public because of the shooting and Apple should

have done everything available and could have been done to help FBI. The security and privacy

that the company offers should have taken the secondary seat and the prime goal should have

been to help the FBI so that correct actions could be taken without wasting time, fighting legal
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battles. Safety and security of the people should have been given the maximum priority rather

than defending the privacy of people which is secondary when lives of people are at stake.

‘The Decision taken by Apple Inc. is ethical’

Instead of cracking the phone and sharing the data Apple Inc. decided to keep the phone security

off the hands of FBI to prevent the privacy of the people. FBI has long been known to have been

snooping on the people of America. The revelations by Edward Snowden, a former NSA

(National Security Agency) contractor, indicate the same fear among the masses. According to

the deontological theory the rules should be taken as the prime consideration for deciding

actions. Hence the decision taken by Apple Inc. is both ethical and logical. The rules in society is

created for a greater good and in all the instances should be adhered to, and protected. The

company just stood by the rules and the promises made to the users. The company refused

blatantly when asked to break the codes that were dictated under ‘Federal Information Security

Management Act of 2002’. There exists no key to unlock the Apple phones and generating the

key and handing it over to FBI would give extra teeth for snooping on the people. By not

allowing FBI the access codes for Apple phones the company followed the various standards in

IP, security and privacy to protect the consumer rights.

FBI has been successful in breaking the security of the phone and has retrieved the

relevant data that were locked in the phone. Hence both the purpose of FBI and Apple has been

served. But the ethical considerations of both the organizations are under scanner and should be

analyzed carefully.
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Figure 1: Shows the Implication of the decision taken

(Image Source: as created by author)

Conclusion

In this article, the various aspects of the ethical issues that have been raised by the news

report have been analyzed with the help of ethical theories. Apple the technological giant who

deferred to share the terrorist information defended itself by presenting the privacy issues of the
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user. The ethical analysis was done using two ethical theories, which are, Consequentialist

Theories and the Deontological Theories. Although the two theories deferred in the outcome, the

results were striking and helped us to understand the way various consequences arise due to the

ethical buildup of a person or organization.

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References

CNBC. (2016). Apple vs FBI: All you need to know. [online] Available at:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/29/apple-vs-fbi-all-you-need-to-know.html [Accessed 15 Sep.

2016]. Jana, S. K., & Basu, A. K. (2012). Ethical decision making–A utilitarian approach. Asian

Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities,2(11), 82-93.

Cohen-Almagor, R. (2014). Consequential Reasoning and Its Critique. InAPSA 2014 Annual

Meeting Paper.

Finn, M. (2015). In Defence of Deontological Justifications of Intellectual Property. Available at

SSRN 2690947.

Broad, C. D. (2014). Five types of ethical theory (Vol. 2). Routledge.

LaFollette, H. (Ed.). (2014). Ethics in practice: an anthology. John Wiley & Sons.

Noddings, N. (2013). Caring: A relational approach to ethics and moral education. Univ of

California Press.

Syracuse University. (2016). THEORIES OF ETHICS - School of Education -. Soe.syr.edu.

Retrieved 11 September 2016, from

http://soe.syr.edu/academic/counseling_and_human_services/modules/Common_Ethical_Issues/t

heories_of_ethics.aspx