Essay Instructions: Midterm Case Study
Julian Assange: WikiLeaks faces 'very aggressive' investigation by US
Friday 17 December 2010 13.50 GMT
WikiLeaks faces a "very aggressive" and secretive investigation by US authorities stung by a perceived loss of face following the release of thousands of secret American diplomatic cables, the organization’s founder, Julian Assange, said today.
Speaking to reporters outside Ellingham Hall, the Norfolk house at which he is staying on bail following his release from prison, Assange said WikiLeaks faced "what appears to be an illegal investigation ... certain people who are alleged to be affiliated to us have been detained, followed around, had their computers seized and so on".
He said he believed it was "80% likely" that the US authorities were seeking to prepare an attempt to have him extradited there to face charges of espionage.
He added that he was reliant on public opinion to rein in "a superpower that does not appear to be following the rule of law". "I would say that there is a very aggressive investigation, that a lot of face has been lost by some people, and some people have careers to make by pursuing famous cases, but that is actually something that needs monitoring," he said.
He criticized the way Swedish authorities have sought to have him extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault ??" the reason he was held in jail for 10 days.
"That is something that actually needs monitoring, it needs scrutiny," he said. "We have seen this with the Swedish prosecutor in representations to the British government here, and the British courts say that it did not need to provide a shred of evidence ??" said this three times ??" and in fact has provided nothing, not a single shred of evidence in its extradition hearings, in the hearings that ended up putting me in solitary confinement for 10 days.
"Similarly, in the United States, what appears to be a secret grand jury investigation against me, or our organisation ??" not a single comment about what is actually going on."
The bulk of WikiLeaks' efforts were currently devoted to fending off various attacks, including technical assaults on its website, Assange said "Over 85% of our economic resources are spent dealing with attacks ??" dealing with technical attacks, dealing with political attacks, dealing with legal attacks, not doing journalism," he said. "And that, if you like, is attack upon investigative journalism." Assange said he was worried about the prospect of being sent to the US, adding: "There have been many calls by senior political figures in the United States, including elected ones in the Senate, for my execution, the kidnapping of my staff, the execution of the young soldier Bradley Manning ... that's a very, very serious business. "The United States has shown recently that its institutions seem to be failing to follow the rule of law. And dealing with a superpower that does not appear to be following the rule of law is a serious business."
US efforts to prosecute Assange appear to rely on connecting him to Manning, the presumed source of the leaked cables.
Assange, an Australian, was at pains today to stress his remove from Manning, referring to him as "a young man somehow embroiled in our publishing activities" and saying WikiLeaks did not know who its sources were.
Targeting him personally would not stop the work of WikiLeaks, Assange pledged. "People like to present WikiLeaks as me and my backpack. It is not true. We are a large organisation. "It is resilient. It is designed to withstand decapitation attacks, and our publication rate actually increased during the time I was in solitary confinement."
Assange was held in jail because prosecutors argued that as a non-British national with no permanent ties to the country he was a potential absconder. To satisfy the judge he had to post £200,000 in surety, provided by supporters, and agree to stay at Ellingham Hall, owned by his friend Vaughan Smith. He must wear a tag, observe a curfew and report to a police station daily. [there are many other articles on Assange/WikiLeaks if you wish to research them]
See specific info below for Ethical analysis of Assange/Wikileaks case.
The article above is but a small portion of the information that has been published that raises numerous ethical issues as to Assange’s conduct, his publication Wikileaks, what others have said and done on behalf of Assange [hacking into other company IT systems etc], conduct of Sweden, conduct of US gov instituting a security violations investigations, possible criminal investigation by US and Sweden, ethics of individual(s) in leaking the information, ethics of US gov classification system to keep info from the public, etc, etc
Your assignment is to discuss (3) three ethics issues raised by either Assange’s personal conduct, Wikileaks releasing information and/or conduct of others or governments relating to Assange and Wikileaks. You are not constrained by just this article on Assange/Wikileaks. The area is wide open as long as your 3 ethics issues relate to Assange and/or Wikileaks publication of information or actions of other relative to the release of information by Wikileaks and Assange. You must use the headings from my case study outline below for your paper. Innovative and distinctive arguments are a premium. In other words if you just parrot back what others have said, you will not garner top points. Paper must be in narrative format and not outline format but use the mandatory headings below. There are 5 pages to these instructions.
This midterm case analysis is worth 20pts and is 20% of final course grade!!
Case Study Outline Guidance
You must do the following:
1. Using the Grading Rubric for Conferences, found in course content section of class room, choose the appropriate ethical philosophies that you feel are relevant to the ethical issues you found in the Assange/wikileaks controversy and that you will discuss below.
2. The following headings must be used in your paper which must be in narrative and not outline format:
Facts; Ethical Issue I, Alternative solution 1, Alternative solution 2; Ethical issue 2, Alternative solution 1, Alternative solution 2; Ethical issue 3, Alternative solution 1, Alternative solution 2; and Recommendation for Ethics issue 1; and Recommendation for Ethics issue 2 and Recommendation for Ethics issue 3 [-2.5pts if do not use these heading in the case study.]
AREAS YOU MUST COVER IN YOUR CASE STUDY:
Facts: Only discuss only those facts that form a basis for the three ethical issues you will discuss. In other words facts that support the three ethics issues must be in this section. Points deducted for information in paper that does not directly relate to the ethics issues you will discuss. 2pts
Ethical issue I: State the ethical issue you will discuss and discuss why it is or is not also a legal issue. 1pts
Alternative Solution 1: This should be a reasonable alternative. Pick an ethical philosophy, define it, discuss how it relates to this alternative and why; then discuss the specific affects this alternative may have on the various stakeholders. Specifically list the various stakeholders. 2pts
Alternative Solution 2: This should be a reasonable alternative. Pick an ethical philosophy, define it, discuss how it relates to this alternative and why; then discuss the specific affects this alternative may have on the various stakeholders. Specifically list the various stakeholders. 2pts
Ethical Issue II: State the ethical issue you will discuss and discuss why it is or is not also a legal issue. 1pts
Alternative Solution 1: This should be a reasonable alternative. Pick an ethical philosophy, define it, discuss how it relates to this alternative and why; then discuss the specific affects this alternative may have on the various stakeholders. Specifically list the various stakeholders. 2pts
Alternative Solution 2: This should be a reasonable alternative. Pick an ethical philosophy, define it, discuss how it relates to this alternative and why; then discuss the specific affects this alternative may have on the various stakeholders. Specifically list the various stakeholders. 2pts
Ethical issue III: State the ethical issue you will discuss and discuss why it is or is not also a legal issue. 1pts
Alternative Solution 1: This should be a reasonable alternative. Pick an ethical philosophy, define it, discuss how it relates to this alternative and why; then discuss the specific affects this alternative may have on the various stakeholders. Specifically list the various stakeholders. 2pts
Alternative Solution 2: This should be a reasonable alternative. Pick an ethical philosophy, define it, discuss how it relates to this alternative and why; then discuss the specific affects this alternative may have on the various stakeholders. Specifically list the various stakeholders. 2pts
Recommendation for Ethics Issue I: Pick one alternative from ethics issue 1 above and explain why you feel it is the best alternative for that particular ethical issue. 1pts
Recommendation for Ethics Issue II: Pick one alternative from ethics issue 2 above and explain why you feel it is the best alternative for that particular ethical issue. 1pts
Recommendation for Ethics Issue III: Pick one alternative from ethics issue 2 above and explain why you feel it is the best alternative for that particular ethical issue. 1pts
End of Case Study Outline. [More requirements for case study below]
When writing the case study, do not reproduce the language in the case study. Doing so will reduce your grade. Paraphrase everything you use from the case study. When discussing the ethical philosophies merely cite the Grading Rubric for Conferences as your source of information. If you use any other outside sources, properly attribute words or ideas taken from those sources by footnoting. If you do not use any outside sources then merely at the end cite the case study narrative as your source of information. Be succinct. Spell check and grammar check the assignment; find and correct errors. Be sure every point is expressed clearly.
Further Instructions that apply to case studies:
Students are encouraged to engage in their own reflection, critical analysis, and argumentation, in addition to using those from other sources. All viewpoints should be supported by arguments intended to justify the position to others. Arguments for alternative viewpoints should be examined in their strongest forms. Students are encouraged to paraphrase all sources, and are required to properly attribute ideas, and language, taken from any other sources. Grades will be partially based on
a. grammar and organization, i.e.,
Grammatical accuracy, sentence and paragraph structure
Timeliness of project submission and adherence to deadlines
Clarity of expression and presentation of ideas
b. conformity to the standards of formatting and documentation, including proper citations and references found in the APA Style Manual.
The final product must:
a. Be typed, double spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman fonts, with margins no wider than one inch. -1pts
b. Have no headers or footers except page numbers. -1pts
c. Be prepared in Microsoft Word or Rich text format only. -1pts
d. Footnotes mandatory if use outside sources - Contain, in attributions made in the body of the paper, only the author’s name and page number, e.g., (Grading Rubric for Conf; Smith, pg 24 as examples). -3pts
e. Do not include pictures, graphs or lists in the body of the paper. If these are needed to support facts provided, place them at the end of the paper as an addendum. Merely reference them in the body of the paper ??" See Addendum 1 etc. They will not count towards paper length. -1pts
f. Contain a comprehensive References list of all sources actually used in preparing project including for each entry the author, title, city and state of publisher, publisher’s name, year, and page number, if applicable, or the precise webpage of the material referenced. -2pts
g. Instructor reserves the right to reformat the paper to conform with instructions above.
Skills assessed:
Clearly and succinctly states facts relevant to the statement and resolution of the ethical issue(s)
Distinguishes ethical issues from purely legal, management, marketing, finance, etc. issues.
Articulates alternative courses of action, evaluating them in terms of implicated stakeholder interests.
Persuasively justifies the alternative courses as best for the business, considering both ethics and the bottom line.
Properly attributes words and ideas from other sources.
Writes grammatically, clearly, and succinctly; follows technical instructions.
There are TWO requirements for each individual assignment. They are numbered 1 and 2 below. Failure to comply with the four requirements means less than full credit and in some cases no credit. Each individual assignment is worth 1pt. Use the following headings in your initial response:
1. Ethical Issue/Core Stakeholders: Identify one ethical issue involved in the assigned problem. Do not just repeat language in the problem. Who are the core stakeholders involved in the case? List them. (.5pt)
2. Option/Ethics Philosophy: Once you have decided on the one ethical issue to discuss, choose at least one option on how to handle the ethical issue and choose the ethical philosophy from the list below that best epitomizes your approach to handling the ethical issue. Justify your choice of philosophy and make sure you define which philosophy you have chosen. (.5pt)
The ethical philosophies can be summarized as [more details discussion in text]:
Egoism (consequences for the individual; physical well-being, power, pleasure)
Hedonism (extreme egoism; maximize personal pleasure)
Enlightened Egoists (longer range perspective and allow well-being for others but their self-interest is paramount)
Utilitarianism (greatest total utility; the greatest benefit for all those affected by the decision) Utility (usefulness or benefit from the decision)
Cost Benefit Analysis (assess which decision would give the greatest utility)
Relativist (decisions are derived subjectively from the experience of individuals and groups). Subjectively (use themselves or the people around them as their basis for defining ethical standards).
Virtue Ethics
An acquired disposition of positive values that are a part of an individual’s character. Virtues such as truth, trust and tolerance create obligations that make cooperation possible. Virtues that support business transactions: trust, self-control, empathy, fairness, truthfulness, learning, gratitude, civility, and moral leadership. Character ??" the focus of virtue ethics is on character
Justice Ethics (deals with fairness)
1) Distributive ??" deals with fairness and outcomes such as fair pay for work
done.
2) Procedural ??" deals with the processes and activities that produce the outcome such as decision making process; applying rules fairly.
3) Interactional ??" deals with an evaluation of the fairness of the communication process used in the business relationship.
Kantian Ethics (also know as Deontology (Greek ??" ethics; focuses on the means not the end) Kant (intentions are what are important; nature of moral decisions are stable and rather firm; people have absolute rights of freedom of speech, privacy, consent)
Nonconsequentialism (focus on means not the consequences). The idea of respect for persons is a central tenant of Kantian moral philosophy. Kantians argue that persons, because they are self-governing beings, have unique dignity. Kantians emphasize the importance of motives to ethics. Kantians argue that for an action to be properly regarded as ethical, the right actions must be done for the right reasons.
Common morality
That several theories ??" or elements of theories ??" are compatible. Each of the theories includes certain common features that may be characterized as the correct attitude to take in ethics. This attitude is rational, universal, and impartial. Collectively these features constitute the moral point of view.
Rights theories
Rights based theories hold that rights form the basis of obligations because they best express the purpose of morality, which is the securing of liberties or other benefits from rights holders.
Other ethics theories ??" You may research other theories if you feel a particular theory not listed above more aptly applies to the facts as you see them. Be sure and define the theory you use and cite the source where you found it.
