Reading 8 - IBM and Nazi Germany
By: Keith MacDonell - kmacdone
Corporate Personhood is the legal concept that a company enjoys some of the same rights afforded to individuals. According to the article "How Corporations Got The Same Rights As People (But Don't Ever Go To Jail)," these rights include the right to free speech and expression, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, due process, double jeopardy, and more. Legally these rights given to corporations protect them from the government. As the article points out, however, corporations can't go to jail even if convicted of wrong doing. One of the social ramifications of corporate personhood are that companies are free to express themselves without fear of government reprisal. The ethical ramifications are that since they are treated as people, corporations should be expected to have the same moral and ethical obligations as a member of society would.
I found it very interesting that IBM did business with Nazi Germany. Apparently the IBM Hollerith punch card machine was key to the Nazis organization of the Holocaust. According to the article "This Is the Hidden Nazi History of IBM," it was "an essential tool for executing the logistical challenges of the Jewish extermination during Hitler's regime in a world before computers." Some people may argue that it is not the responsibility of a company for how people decide to use their products. However, I don't think that is necessarily true. I think that as engineers we have a responsibility to think about how people may end up using the things that we create. However, this does not cover the extent of IBM's involvement with Nazi Germany. "IBM didn't just provide technology to Hitler's Germany - it helped implement and maintain it for whatever purposes the Nazis required (Hidden Nazi History)." I don't think IBM was ethical in doing business with the Nazis. I believe that corporations are responsible to some extent for the unethical use of their products. They are even more ethically responsibly for unethical use of their services. Corporations should definitely refrain from doing business with unethical people or organizations.
I do believe that corporations should be expected to have the same moral and ethical obligations/responsibilities since they are afforded the same rights as individual persons. I believe that since they enjoy the same benefits as a person does, they should be held to the same standards.
The case with IBM as an example seems to be fairly clear cut. The actions of IBM company members was clearly immoral. "Everything was leased and regularly maintained by IBM technicians, some of who serviced the tabulation machines biweekly on-site at the concentration camps (Hidden Nazi Germany)." To me, this is clearly immoral, and IBM should not have provided such services to Nazi Germany.
Corporate Personhood is the legal concept that a company enjoys some of the same rights afforded to individuals. According to the article "How Corporations Got The Same Rights As People (But Don't Ever Go To Jail)," these rights include the right to free speech and expression, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, due process, double jeopardy, and more. Legally these rights given to corporations protect them from the government. As the article points out, however, corporations can't go to jail even if convicted of wrong doing. One of the social ramifications of corporate personhood are that companies are free to express themselves without fear of government reprisal. The ethical ramifications are that since they are treated as people, corporations should be expected to have the same moral and ethical obligations as a member of society would.
I found it very interesting that IBM did business with Nazi Germany. Apparently the IBM Hollerith punch card machine was key to the Nazis organization of the Holocaust. According to the article "This Is the Hidden Nazi History of IBM," it was "an essential tool for executing the logistical challenges of the Jewish extermination during Hitler's regime in a world before computers." Some people may argue that it is not the responsibility of a company for how people decide to use their products. However, I don't think that is necessarily true. I think that as engineers we have a responsibility to think about how people may end up using the things that we create. However, this does not cover the extent of IBM's involvement with Nazi Germany. "IBM didn't just provide technology to Hitler's Germany - it helped implement and maintain it for whatever purposes the Nazis required (Hidden Nazi History)." I don't think IBM was ethical in doing business with the Nazis. I believe that corporations are responsible to some extent for the unethical use of their products. They are even more ethically responsibly for unethical use of their services. Corporations should definitely refrain from doing business with unethical people or organizations.
I do believe that corporations should be expected to have the same moral and ethical obligations/responsibilities since they are afforded the same rights as individual persons. I believe that since they enjoy the same benefits as a person does, they should be held to the same standards.
The case with IBM as an example seems to be fairly clear cut. The actions of IBM company members was clearly immoral. "Everything was leased and regularly maintained by IBM technicians, some of who serviced the tabulation machines biweekly on-site at the concentration camps (Hidden Nazi Germany)." To me, this is clearly immoral, and IBM should not have provided such services to Nazi Germany.
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