Oh, they also over produce the amount of honey they need, and beekeepers supplement their food during spring/fall when flowers aren't in bloom. If they were going hungry or felt food insecure they would leave and search for greener pastures.

I will say there is a spectrum of beekeepers with some being more ethical than others, I've heard stories of beekeepers a few decades ago that wouldn't bother wintering their bees and just started fresh with new bees each spring. So if you're after ethically sourced honey and beeswax I'd deal with a local beekeeper, someone you can get to know and ask about their beekeeping practices.

So just to sum it up I'd say it's possible for beekeeping to be done ethically but I'd asses it on a case-by-case basis as some beekeepers are better than others

Edit: just a disclaimer, I worked for a small to medium sized beekeeper that had stationary yards spread over a large chunk of country, not one of these large corporate setups with the mobile hive trucks. Also I haven't touched on the whole issue of them competing with native pollinators but that's because I don't really know about that side of things