How's Your Ethics?

Former Coke secretary sentenced to 8 years

Williams convicted of plotting to steal trade secrets from drinks firm

AP Asociated Press
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

ATLANTA - A federal judge ignored a former Coca-Cola secretary’s tearful plea for mercy Wednesday and sentenced her to eight years in prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from the world’s largest beverage maker.

U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester told Joya Williams, 42, that he was giving her a longer sentence than recommended by federal prosecutors and sentencing guidelines because, “This is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society.”

For the whole story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18822771/?GT1=9951#storyContinued


Ethics – Everyone has their own!

The problem with ethics is that each person has there own. Companies can send out an annual policy, collect attestations that it was read, understood and will be followed, but what happens when ethics go bad – good case in point.

The details of this case point out that ethics are a people problem, no surprise. If the people with the problem work in your company, the outcomes are not always this good – good for the company anyway. As I read the article, I couldn’t wait to discover what happened to Pepsi-Cola.
Coca-Cola may have done everything right in this case, but as a story it brings up several questions:

This brings up several questions;

1. Would the sentence have been beyond the Federal Sentencing Guidelines if, the secret ingredients for nearly anything else wasn’t at stake?
   
2. Did the ethics program at Coca-Cola include multiple training and awareness touch points (frequent awareness campaigns in addition to the assumed annual policy)?
   
3. Did Coca-Cola have a Document and Records Retention Program that included information classifications (was there a technical security breach?)
   
4. Was there a physical security breach that gave Williams access to product samples?
   

Specific technology controls are important to help “lock down” important information and identify more quickly when there are problems, but are not the only answer. It is important to have a top-down risk-based approach to identify, and adapt to risks, particularly when it comes to areas such as information privacy and security. On top of that, it is critical to establish a culture of compliance through effective program oversight, monitoring and auditing. This gives people that have trouble minding their own ethical dilemmas a fighting chance.

It’s like the old adage that "locked doors won’t always keep thieves out but they sure help keep honest people honest".