The Case of the Troubled Computer Programmer

By: William J. Frey

This case study was developed from a scenario provided by Olga Rosas-Velez, presented before
the DOLCE workshop, summer 2000.

You are a computer programmer working for a small business that provides specialized financial
services to local, mostly small businesses. You have been working for company X for about six
months. Recently company X has been occupied with reengineering the inventory system of a
local hardware chain, ABC Hardware. The objective is to enable ABC to keep better track of
their inventory.

Your supervisor calls you into his office. “Do you know of any existing software products to
help ABC keep better track of its inventory?” You mention a particular product that you have
worked with in another job and point out that ABC could use it without any modification. The
only drawback, you point out, is that this software is somewhat expensive. Your supervisor
leans back in his chair, puffs on his cigar and says, “That’s no problem. We have that software.
Why don’t you just install it on ABC’s computers?”

You diplomatically indicate that this would violate the licensing agreement X has with the
developers of the software. “Do it anyway,” your supervisor says. “Nobody’s going to find out,
and ABC is a very important client. We need to do all we can to keep them happy.”

What should you do?

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 Case Study Analysis

20 marks

In groups of no more than 4 students conduct an ethical analysis of the case above following the
instructions below:

• Identify the action you want to base your analysis on (What should you do?). (answer this
question, then base your analysis on this answer)

• Identify the stakeholders (2 marks)

• Identify alternative actions in any situation; alternatives that will prevent unethical actions (3
marks)

• Identify areas of responsibility in relation to each stakeholder (4 marks)

• for the purpose of Harm/Benefit analysis, identify the stakeholders and conduct an analysis
(drawing tables like the ones we used in the practice sessions can help you) (4 marks)

• for the purpose of Virtue/Vices analysis, identify the stakeholders and list the virtues and vices
relevant to each stakeholder (4 marks)

• Provide a general conclusion based on your analysis (3 marks)

Submit your document to your teacher via salmualla@uob.edu.bh on or before 28th March. You can
take 2 weeks to work on this with your group, during these two weeks there are no lectures. Don't forget
to put your Student names and ID numbers in the document before submitting.

To avoid losing marks:

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• Avoid short or shallow answers. unless if you are listing virtues and vices that are clearly
understood, your answers need to contain some clarification. Even some virtues and
vices need some clarification as to how they are relevant in a particular situation.

• Think about the case above from the Intellectual Property Rights concepts you learned in
class. Concepts you learned about Intellectual Property Rights should influence your
answers and analysis.

• Take time to think about each point. Doing the analysis in a hurry will result in shallow
answers and you will overlook important points.

• Link any relevant legal, societal, religious laws or traditions to the case.