@article{42070,
      recid = {42070},
      author = {Sun, Haochen},
      title = {Corporate Fundamental Responsibility : What Do Technology  Companies Owe the World?},
      pages = {67 pages},
      abstract = {In this digital age, technology companies reign supreme.  However, the power gained by these companies far exceeds  the responsibilities they have assumed. The ongoing privacy  protection and fake news scandals swirling around Facebook  clearly demonstrate this shocking asymmetry of power and  responsibility.  Legal reforms taking place in the United  States in the past twenty years or so have failed to  correct this asymmetry. Indeed, the U.S. Congress has  enacted major statutes minimizing the legal liabilities of  technology companies with respect to online infringing  acts, privacy protection, and payment of taxes. While these  statutes have promoted innovation, they have also had the  unintended effect of breeding irresponsibility among  technology companies.  Against this backdrop, this Article  offers a new lens through which we can deal with the  ethical crisis surrounding technology companies. It puts  forward the concept of corporate fundamental responsibility  as the ethical and legal foundation for imposing three  distinct responsibilities upon technology companies: to  reciprocate users’ contributions, play their role  positively, and confront injustices created by  technological development. The Article further considers  how these responsibilities could be applied to improve  protection of private data and to encourage responsible  exercise of intellectual property rights by technology  companies.  The tripartite conception of corporate  fundamental responsibility, this Article shows, is built  upon the ethical theories of reciprocity, role  responsibility, and social justice. Therefore, corporate  fundamental responsibility paves the way for technology law  to embrace ethics whole-heartedly, creating new legal and  ethical guidance for the benevolent behavior of technology  companies. In developing technologies, collecting data, and  regulating speech, technology company leaders must act  responsibly for the future of humanity.},
      url = {http://tind.wipo.int/record/42070},
}