Archive of Evil
The "archives of evil" contain truths, and those truths may come to light given the increased access to data that technological advancement and legislation has provided. Therefore, legal counsel provides the essential backbone of any company-wide policy about how to rectify the problems of the past and mitigate future losses. The organization must hire specialists who can pore over the archives of evil to first determine which behaviors could be "grandfathered" by older laws and which cannot. Any issues that remain targets of possible litigation must be dealt with immediately if the organization hopes to thrive and retain its integrity among potential investors. Assuming that incriminating evidence can be obliterated or erased would be one of the gravest mistakes an organization could make. Duplicate copies of reports, backups of digital data, and of course, whistleblower word of mouth all point to the events of the past. Managers must face the mistakes their predecessors made, and take ethical and legal steps to get the company on the right track. In many cases, past problems may not haunt current employees. Quality legal counsel can assure managers that past discretions will be the legal and ethical responsibility of past managers.
Preventing problems from arising in the future will require a strict revision of any equivocal ethical codes. A corporate strategy for preventing archives of evil depends on a corporate strategy for preventing evil behavior. Prevention will therefore depend on creating and maintaining an internal system of checks and balances to ensure ethical behavior. Legal counsel is, once again, crucial to avoiding costly legal battles and a degradation of the organization's reputation. The company should be prepared to deal with whatever unpleasantness rises to the surface should an ethical code be breached. Cover-ups are a thing of the past.
Finally, because laws related to information protection and copyright change regularly, the company should hire legal counsel to address any changes and ensure that our ethical codes parallel the current legal environment. To ensure the security of the organization, all data must be encrypted and protected. However, all company actions will be held to public scrutiny and should be.
