E-mail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

E-mail - Essay Example But, the US marine's death in the blast of a roadside bomb on November 13, 2004 during a routine foot patrol in the Al Anbar province of Iraq has spared off a debate on his e-mail account with his family staking claim to access its details. The parents' claim that his son's email account should be made accessible to them was bluntly rejected by the Internet giant Yahoo on the ground that it violated the privacy rules (Chambers, Yahoo denies family access to slain soldier's e-mail). The question is whether or not his parents should be allowed access to his email account. The killed marine's father, John Ellsworth, argues that his son's email account, with its complete details, works as a journal for future generations as it provides an opportunity for people to go through the actual words from someone direct on the warfront in Iraq (who owns your e-mails Para 5). Many experts feel that the Yahoo management had acted correctly (Leach 12). But, the father seems to be right going by the utilitarian principles as the act of providing access by the Yahoo to the son's email account brigs about certain utility to the family in shape of happiness. Here, the parents of the killed soldier are guided by the family emotions and sentiments ant that particular act of accessing the son's email account would result in moments of happiness for the 2 family. Utilitarianism, as per the theory advocated by John Stuart Mill, aims at the ultimate utility and happiness of people. It sustains greatly even if one person derives pleasure from the act of others and on the act of his own (Mill, 10). Mill further says that this great act of providing happiness to others stems gradually through cultivation of a noble character. There is no need to make a special mention that noble character builds from the fundamentals of the ethics. Utilitarianism therefore draws its strength directly from ethics and morals. The killed soldier's parents, aghast at their son's untimely death, might have wanted to keep the messages in the e-mail account as memoirs throughout their lives. In an ethical point of view, the parents of the young American soldier should be provided full access of the mail box of their son to make them happy. Further, by making the mail box messages available to the family, Yahoo would lose nothing except being accused by its users of violating the privacy policy. Sure, it can support its case on ethical grounds if it provides access. But, certainly it is not violating the privacy of others. Knowing this full well, the Yahoo management has refused permission fearing that it may lose popular support. One may support the Yahoo's argument under the principles of negative utilitarianism which prescribes promotion of least amount of harm / evil or prevention of the greatest amount of harm / evil for the greatest number (Negative utilitarianism, Para 1). Here, providing accessibility of the e-mail only results in happiness to the parents. Moreover, the question of promoting evil does not arise. The company may argue that by denying the access of the mail box to the parents, it is preventing a possible greatest harm to its greatest number of users. But, the possible greatest harm indicates a hypothetical tendency and the principles of negative utilitarianism can never be applied in this context as it is not a certain ty that providing access of the e-mail would harm