Ethics Essay

The purpose of having a Code of Ethics is to have a basis for decision making. It
provides those following it to remain consistent regardless of the situation they might find
themselves in. Normally a person would act using their own reasoning, but a Code of Ethics
would keep a person representing an organization acting within the organization’s expectations.
Keeping with the organization’s expectations will allow the organization, as well as the person
representing them to maintain a professional reputation. This does not mean that individuals
can’t keep their own code of ethics, personally, before I make decisions, I think about how it will
effect me, the people I’m dealing with or making it for, and how morally questionable the
decision is in the eyes of a neutral party.

Our group had a decent time responding to various questions. Ethics is usually pretty
black and white, except when it’s not. By this I mean ethics is usually pretty cut and dry until you
get to convoluted cases where you know there is something wrong, but so does your customer,
and maybe there is no way around it, but it’s there. Then there are cases where you can tell that
ethics have shifted over the years, things like privacy don’t mean as much as they did fifty years
ago since we have programs that monitor our every move. This was the major concern at our
meeting, where we discussed how tech companies used our data and whether or not it’s ethical
to collect data through minor apps that don’t really advertise collecting data.

Regarding the Virtue of Ethics, I think that Responsibility is paramount, with fidelity and
integrity as runners up. To operate a data collection service you must understand how your data
is used and make sure they it doesn’t fall into malicious hands. Fidelity to know the limits of
what you should and shouldn’t do with information, such as offering actual identities of people
who you are selling the data of. Last but not least Integrity, if a person who is collecting data
knows there is something wrong going on, such as identifying data being sold or particular
people being targeted, then they should have the integrity to speak up about it. Self-Discipline,
Charity, and Honesty don’t fit too well with collecting people’s data. Self-Discipline doesn’t really
help when everything is automated, charity doesn’t seem to fit companies that secretly collect
data on its users, and honesty, well companies only follow what’s legally the minimum for things
like that. If every company were honest about how it used or collected your data, many more
people might not use their products.