Re:Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his...
by jonsleet on Tuesday December 24, 2013 @04:37PM
(#6961221)
No, I do not. I did work for several in the past and only one of those would I say operated "with conscience". They were overcome - overwhelmed by more "sinister" competition (of some reknown, wildly successful still). You need to see their operations as algorithms, and put numbers to actions. Ethical behavior often has a cost - and the counter unethical behavior can yield great gains - exposure may have a risk of a cost, but that may be mitigated with proxy agents, or marketing and relationship management. Someone has this all worked out, monte carloed through the gamut, including things that you might consider to be greatly evil.
It's true that lots of corporations do unethical things, but you also should keep in mind that at its heart, it's people like you and I that are doing it. They respond to incentives like the rest of us, they (mostly) have a conscience, and generally try to do the right thing.
They're not always successful, but I don't think that your caricature is generally accurate.