Dumpster Diving - Is Dumpster Diving an Ethical Way of Acquiring Information from a Competitor?

Is dumpster diving an ethical way of acquiring information from a competitor?

No it is not. It is a low and cheap dirty way of trying to get information on a set company that a competitor is trying to out do. There are many other ethical ways of finding out information on a company without going through their garbage or dumpsters for it. It is a violation of their property rights.

If companies do not take precautions, such as shredding vital documents, why should they be protected from prying eyes?

They should take the precautions in shredding their vital documents, because as you can see, if they throw away ideas or important information without properly discarding it so no one can go through it in the trash and gain private information on them. Doing this would give the competitors the leverage they need to get ahead with their ideas and get the credit for it. Therefore, the real company who originally produced the idea would not be able to sue for the rights of the idea that was stolen from the dumpster.

Would it make a difference if the dumpster were on private property or on a public street?

It does make a difference if the dumpster is on private property, because that is against the ethics code. Also that is trespassing on private property. If the dumpster were on the street, it is still wrong but others can go through the dumpster and still retain the same information as if it was n their property. The company would not be able to file charges against whom ever trying to gain the information.

Although John Pepper acted courageously in notifying Unilever, was his action morally required? In view of the reaction from Unilever, did he act wisely?

Mr. John Pepper did act courageously by notifying Unilever about the dumpster diving situation. If he would have never brought this to the Unilever's attention at that time, who knows how much more information the competitors could have obtained and use to claim the products that Unilever made and claim it as their own. Doing that would have cost the company a whole lot of money because they did the research and spent the time on finding whatever it is to make such product.

Is Unilever owed any compensation?

Yes, I believe Unilever should be compensated because they had to go through a thorough investigation and hire a lot of people to research the allegations ad information that was stolen to file papers against the other company about the dumpster diving. Also being that they had to change a lot of their rules and information around because they don't know how many other unknown people might know of their company secrets and facts. Therefore, replace the three executives that were fired because of this as well.