University of Virginia Library

Demi-Government

The column continued,
"However, Mulligan said the top
management considered the request
and decided against it. What it came
down to was the ethical
responsibilities of the business." "If
we were to do this," he added," we
had a responsibility to inform our
customers it was being done and
this would have defeated the FBI's
whole purpose."

Saturday, April 17, Peter
McCulugh, Xerox President and the
chief executive officer, publicly
commented on Xerox's
involvement with the F.B.I. The
Washington Post quoted him as
saying "Despite public reports to
the contrary, Xerox is cooperating
fully with the FBI as we would
with any government law
enforcement agency now and in the
future."

The Washington Post National
News Desk stated that Mr.
McCulugh refused to say what type
of activities Xerox would engage in
for the F.B.I.

The statement that Xerox would
cooperate with 'any government
enforcement agency' leads us to
some chilling questions.

Would Xerox assist the
Securities and Exchange
Commission in secretly
investigating brokerage firms,
mutual funds and portfolio
accountants?

Would Xerox assist the Federal
government in breaking state and
local opposition to desegregation? Be
it noted that by tracing the flow of
information a person or group can
detect who is aiding their
opposition.

If Congress were to investigate
the FBI and the FBI had something
they were going to hide who would
Xerox side with?

The importance of
communication and information
flow rises exponentially with the
advancement of technology. The
'power' of communication and
information flow already
overshadows the power of money
and men in many parts of our
society.

If the Xerox Corporation's
business becomes that of a
'selective' law enforcement agency
in a necessarily technological
society then the determination of
operative ethics and the
enforcement of these ethics will fall
out of the hands of the
government, business and the
public into the hands of a new
demi-government.