Kevin Lin

Professor Prouty

CprE 394

25 Apr 2021

Ethics Essay

In the world of technology, ethics has always been a question posed upon us. I remember back in 7 th

when I first took my introduction to technology class, we would always ponder over these types of questions.

“Someone has to consciously code the autonomous car to decide which way it turns in accident. Does it turn it

into a car with a family in it? Or does it turn into a motorcycle with only one person on it?”.

Having and following a “Code of Ethics” is simply to have a guideline that you can base your decisions off of. It

essentially grabs the standards that every other professional has agreed upon and makes it the base. Personally, I

think that the “Code of Ethics” can be changed from person to person – as long as you are doing something that

doesn’t against your morals and mostly follows the “Code of Ethics”, I think that’s pretty good.

For example, when I am faced with any sort of ethical situation, I try to find a solution that is both fair

and fits my moral standards. Something that I also like to do is get the opinions of others – to either affirm my

stance or gather more insight on the opposite side. Depending on that, I make my choice. We can take the

example for Marcus from the article in class. The article mentioned the two options of either 1) Go against

ethics, go through the data, and add it to the database or 2) Don’t add the data, and lose the job.

I had mentioned in the discussion that I think that article provides a completely black and white depiction of the

scene. What I think what I would have done in that situation is talk to John (the manager) about my issues, and

negotiate. Depending on his attitude, I would then either 1) finish what I was commissioned to do and leave or 2)

maybe work for a different solution to this issue. After I posted my thoughts, my classmates actually did agree

with my thoughts – especially about the 3rd option of actually talking to John. We all thought that that is both the

most ethical, and moral decision to take.

The case study that I had gone over was the one about the Personally Identifiable Information(PII). I

think that 3 of the virtues that would most connect to this case would be courage, justice, and temperance. I say

this because Marcus needs to have courage in order to choose how he wants to approach the situation in an
ethical manner. Marcus needs to have a sense of justice and fairness in order to do what is right, and he needs to

know how to be temperate and hold himself back. I would say that other virtues really don’t have much to do in

this situation and don’t really apply a ton. For example, having the virtue of trascendence doesn’t really apply

here, nor does being wise. If there was another virtue that I would apply in this situation, it would be the virtue

of sincerity. Being as sincere as possible in this exchange would benefit everyone and would show the honesty

that Marcus would have.

In general, I think the “Code of Ethics” can be changed per person based on their own virtues and

morals. I think it’s just a standard to follow, but can definitely be changed.