Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 2-21-2026
Abstract
As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in business and public-sector operations, organizations face growing ethical tensions between maintaining security and protecting individual privacy. Tools such as workplace email monitoring, biometric identification systems, and artificial intelligence-based analytics are often adopted to reduce risk, prevent misconduct, and safeguard organizational assets. However, these practices raise significant concerns regarding autonomy, consent, behavioral modification, and the expansion of surveillance into everyday professional life. These ethical challenges are especially pronounced in economically distressed regions such as Appalachia, including Scioto County, Ohio, where institutional stability and public safety are closely interconnected and where security failures may have consequences that extend beyond the workplace into the surrounding community. This paper asks: Should businesses in economically vulnerable regions prioritize security over individual privacy when implementing surveillance technologies? Drawing on Henry Sidgwick’s theory of ethical dualism, the analysis argues that security-focused monitoring can be morally justified when it is narrowly tailored, transparent, and subject to meaningful oversight. While privacy-based critiques warn that constant monitoring may inhibit freedom of expression, erode autonomy, and reinforce power imbalances, this paper concludes that carefully constrained surveillance may be ethically defensible in high-risk environments when implemented in a manner that is proportionate, accountable, and respectful of individual dignity.
Course Level
BUMG 6100: Regulation and Ethics in Business
Advisor
Claudia Hanrahan, PhD
Recommended Citation
Pratt, Alexander J.; Young, Carly M.; Sanderlin, Kenneth; and Gaspar, Zachary, "Discussing Security Over Privacy in Business Technology: A Dualism-Based Analysis in the Appalachian Region" (2026). Business Ethics. 27.
https://digitalcommons.shawnee.edu/business_ethics_3100/27