I just happened to watch this segment on tv today of the head guy (or something) of Apple giving his opinion on pirated music and the internet. It was pretty surprising to hear him say that he thought "people want to be honest." He went on to discuss how if people were given an easy and convenient way to pay for downloaded music, they would. The problem of internet pirated music, he said, is that no matter what type of copy-protection companies put on discs, all it takes is one person to figure out how to get around it, and, with the help of the internet, that copy-protection will become utterly useless. So his solution was to allow people to download music, to make their own personal music mixes, etc. etc., but make it less complicated than it is right now to pay for that privilege. He seemed to really believe in the innate honesty of people.
Seriously, though, I don't know if I have the same kind of faith in human goodness that this guy seems to have. Does anyone else really believe that people actually want to be honest? Maybe it's that cynical side to me again, but I really don't think people would prefer honesty to saving money. It's part of the curse of the capitalist mindset that we all grow up with: we're taught to value the dollar, so when it comes to choosing between money and morality, well, sadly, I think the dollar is far more likely to win out. Look at all of the big corporation accounting scandals going on right now, they're all about money-making beating out ethics.
Then too, there's this article I read in the MetroToday business section a few days ago; it talked about how Celestica had reported greater than expected profits, and how their stocks went up, and all was good, and therefore the company was going to cut 6,000 jobs. Maybe this was the naive part of me, but in an economy where smaller than projected revenues leads to job cuts, I would have thought that the reverse would mean a company wouldn't have to lay people off. I was dead wrong, though, since Celestica's reason for the cuts was to increase profit margins by streamlining, etc. etc. Am I wrong in thinking that it would be a more ethical thing to allow those 6,000 workers to keep their jobs when the company's doing fairly well, in a time of economic turmoil?
Of course, not all companies put money before people. I've heard of workers in some companies accepting pay cuts to avoid having to lay people off. Still, accounts of such instances seem more far and few between than news of layoffs, downsizing, etc. etc. Where are compassion and higher morality in today's society?
