An Ethical Analysis of Hack Jobs

The assignment content presents a case study on the hack jobs executed by buyers and the website that released buyer details in public. The act has been analyzed from four ethical theories: Virtue, Contract, Utilitarianism, and Deontology. It is found that the act does not align with the principles of these theories and is thus evaluated as ethically wrong. The main issue is the violation of social norms by both the buyers and the website, which led to a disturbance in social harmony.

Ethical Analysis
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Ethical Analysis: Utilitarianism Theory......................................................................................................3
Ethical Analysis: Deontology Theory..........................................................................................................4
Ethical Analysis: Virtue Theory..................................................................................................................4
Ethical Analysis: Contract Theory...............................................................................................................5
Conclusion and Recommendations..............................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7
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Ethical Analysis
Introduction
Hacking refers to the practice of accessing the computer systems and information in an
unauthorized manner. There are various illegal hackers that are carrying out such services and
one of such websites based out of Australia is Hacker-for hire. The website provides its services
to the people of Australia and Sweden. The website executes the hacking services for the clients
that contact the website from these regions. There are certain details that are required from the
clients, such as, their name, address, contact information, purpose etc. Recently, Hacker-for-hire
released the details of around 60 clients from Australia in the public without any consent from
them (Tung, 2015).
An ethical analysis has been performed on the case study and the results have been covered in
the report. There are four different theories that have been used for the purpose of analysis.
Ethical Analysis: Utilitarianism Theory
Ethical theory of Utilitarianism evaluates the ethics and their justification on the basis of the
utility of actions that are involved. If the utility of the actions that are performed are beneficial
for the parties involved and are positive in nature, then the ethical justification is found to be true
and vice versa. In this theory, utility simply refers to the pleasure and benefits that are gained out
of an action.
Hacking services can be termed as legal only when they are approved by the Government of the
country in which such services are executed. Hacker-for-hire is not a registered organization
legalized to carry out hack jobs. The clients that get associated with the website have this
knowledge and choose to carry out the hacking services because of the pleasure and content that
they will receive as a result. These hack jobs will enable then to know about the activities that
are being carried out by the person they will be spying upon. However, such targets will lose the
privacy and confidentiality of their information which may be private and sensitive in nature
(Bentham, 2005).
The website also performed another action which included the release of the 60 of their clients in
public. This action caused negative utility for the clients as they had to face social and personal
humiliation.
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Ethical Analysis
The act has been analyzed from the perspective and the principles that are associated with the
ethical theory of Utilitarianism. It has been found out that the act does not stick to the principles
that have been defined under this theory and therefore, the act is evaluated as ethically and
morally wrong (Gamlund, 2012).
Ethical Analysis: Deontology Theory
The ethical theory of Deontology is a normative theory of ethics that judges an action on the
basis of its associated rules. There are rules that have been defined around every action and if the
action adheres to such rules then it is termed as ethically correct and vice versa.
In Australia, there are rules and legal norms that have been defined for the execution of the hack
jobs. There are organizations that have gained legal permissions and approvals to execute these
services and it is these organizations that are allowed to execute such services. However, there
are many individuals and organizations that are carrying out hacking services illegally. This is a
clear violation of the legal rules and policies and the business being carried out by Hacker-for-
hire is also one of the examples of the same (O’Neill, 2010). The clients or the buyers that are
involved with these services are also eligible to face the legal obligations that may be associated
with the violation of the laws.
There are also laws that have been defined around the protection of the Intellectual Properties.
These laws state that the information and data sets shall be protected and the privacy of the
information shall always be maintained. However, with the release of the client details in public,
there has been a violation of these laws and rules as well (Equip, 2017). In the case study, it can
be clearly seen that both sets of the legal norms have been violated by the website.
The act has been analyzed from the perspective and the principles that are associated with the
ethical theory of Deontology. It has been found out that the act does not stick to the principles
that have been defined under this theory and therefore, the act is evaluated as ethically and
morally wrong.
Ethical Analysis: Virtue Theory
Virtues or the characteristics that are involved in an act determine its ethical justification as per
this theory.
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Ethical Analysis
The buyers had the virtues such as personal satisfaction, suspicion, jealously and selfish benefits
as some of the virtues to contact the website for the execution of the hack jobs (Hursthouse,
2000). On the other hand, the website had the virtues such as desire for higher profits at the cost
of the loss of others and competitive advantage as some of the virtues that made it release the
buyer details in the public.
Out of all the virtues and characteristics that are associated with the buyers and the website,
majority of them are negative in nature. There are just a few virtues that can be highlighted
which may be positive or beneficial in any form (Bowden, 2005).
The act has been analyzed from the perspective and the principles that are associated with the
Virtue theory of ethics. It has been found out that the act does not stick to the principles that have
been defined under this theory and therefore, the act is evaluated as ethically and morally wrong
(Grcic, 2013).
Ethical Analysis: Contract Theory
In order for an individual to survive, there are guidelines and norms that are defined at different
levels, such as, personal, professional, family, social etc. The contract theory of ethics is based
on these social norms and guidelines. The activities that are put in action by the individuals must
be in accordance and compliance with the social behavior and norms to put it under the category
of ethical activities (Browne, 2012).
There has been a violation of social norms by the buyers and the website in this case. The buyers
attempted to enter in to the personal space of the target users which may have led to the
disturbance of social harmony. The same was the outcome of the decision of the website to put
the names of the buyers in front of the public (Wempe, 2004).
The act has been analyzed from the perspective and the principles that are associated with the
ethical theory of Contract. It has been found out that the act does not stick to the principles that
have been defined under this theory and therefore, the act is evaluated as ethically and morally
wrong.
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Ethical Analysis
Conclusion and Recommendations
It is recommended that the hack jobs that are executed at the professional level must abide by the
legal norms and rules. The adequate set of permissions shall be received to make sure that the
ethical elements and its justification is always maintained.
In this case, the buyers may have contacted the other authorized and permitted entities for the
execution of the hack jobs. Also, the virtues such as animosity, suspicion etc. shall not be given
importance and attention at the personal or the professional level. The ethical and professional
codes of conduct along with the social norms and behavior shall be maintained by one and all.
The website and the buyers that have been pointed out in the case study failed to stick to any of
such principles and therefore, the actions executed by both of these parties have been termed as
ethically wrong during the analysis from the four different ethical theories.
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Ethical Analysis
References
Bentham, J. (2005). Business Ethics: Utilitarianism. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
http://ww2.it.nuigalway.ie/staff/h_melvin/prof_skill/L2_handout.pdf
Bowden, P. (2005). Virtue ethics, Aristotle and organisational behaviour. Retrieved 12
September 2017, from
http://w3.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/gig/aapae05/documents/bowden-virtue.pdf
Browne, K. (2012). Introduction to the social contract theory. Retrieved 12 September 2017,
from
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/Readings/SocialContractHelium.pdf
Equip. (2017). Ethics Theories: Utilitarianism Vs. Deontological Ethics - Christian Research
Institute. Christian Research Institute. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
http://www.equip.org/article/ethics-theories-utilitarianism-vs-deontological-ethics/
Gamlund, E. (2012). Ethics. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/MNSES9100/v14/lectures/mnses-ethical-
theory-gamlund.pdf
Grcic, J. (2013). Virtue Theory, Relativism and Survival. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
http://www.ijssh.org/papers/273-C10018.pdf
Hursthouse, R. (2000). Virtue Ethics and Human Nature. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
http://www.humesociety.org/hs/issues/v25n1-2/hursthouse/hursthouse-v25n1-2.pdf
O’Neill, O. (2010). Kantean Ethics. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
http://gbelic.org/courses/intro/lectures/lecture-7-deontology.pdf
Tung, L. (2015). Rent-a-hacker site leaks Australian buyers' names and addresses. The Sydney
Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 September 2017, from
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/rentahacker-site-leaks-australian-buyers-names-
and-addresses-20150529-ghca3f.html
Wempe, B. (2004). On the use of the social contract model in business ethics. Retrieved 12
September 2017, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-
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Ethical Analysis
8608.2004.00374.x/abstract
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