Nathan Harder

EE 394 Ethics Essay

When I first started my life as an engineering student I never thought very deeply about ethics

within my profession. Though I know now that having a strong moral compass can not only save lives,

but it can also improve the image of yourself, improve your community, or even improve the image of

your company. My goal as a person and as an engineer will be to provide good solutions ethically.

Whenever I am faced with a difficult decision both intellectually and ethically, I always try and

think about the consequences of my choices and what is the motivation behind that choice. Being honest

and fair is in the IEEE ethics code but lying and taking advantage of people happens all too often within

businesses. Sometimes these businesses will intentionally neglect the safety of their staff or consumers to

increase their profit and often send lobbyists to prevent regulations that would allow this. For example,

trade companies such as Amazon often try to lobby against unions that help maintain proper wages and

conditions for their workers.

The ethics of my classmates closely matched my own and, in our discussions, it seemed we all

agreed on what good ethics are in the workplace. One subject of controversy I have seen is the big data

debate. The big data debate discusses whether or not it is ethical for internet providers, search engines, or

phone companies to take and sell people's data to advertisers and others. On one hand, these companies

cannot legally obtain your data without your consent, but the "terms of use" agreements that everyone

clicks through usually contain the legal jargon needed for companies to sell your data. Some people argue

that if you did not want your data taken, you could opt for not using the service, but when every service

does this there is no feasible way in this modern era to do so without a VPN. The other side of the

argument is that it is an invasion of privacy and companies should be far more explicit in their use of our

information. There have even been attempts to create legislation to do so. I believe that at the very least

there should be a campaign to spread awareness about the misuse of people's data and how to solve it.
This campaign needs to be spread freely and widely to get people's attention to what is happening with

their data because people deserve to know that their information is being used whether they are okay with

it or not.

One consequence of selling people’s data is that social media uses it to market ads towards the

user to make them more addicted to their service. This leads to an increase in depression and anxiety as

well as disinformation and conspiracy theories that may be harmful to the public. The documentary, The

Social Dilemma covers this thoroughly through personal stories and examples. This is an obvious abuse

of power by these companies that hold a monopoly over information and peoples' social lives. It is also a

violation of the priorities the companies should have. They should be trying to connect people more easily

so that the world won’t seem as large but instead they are putting their advertisers first by trying to get

their audience addicted to their website through radicalization or targeted ads.

The case study that I examined was the Pinto issue. In this case study, Ford cut corners on their

new compact car, the Pinto that led to many safety issues. The virtues I believe apply to this issue are

integrity, honesty, and responsibility. Even though when Ford tested the Pinto and it failed the safety

tests, they proceeded to lie and claim that it met the safety standards. This was a dishonest, unintegral,

and irresponsible act that led to hundreds of more deaths and thousands of severe burn victims. Even

though the eye of the government was not directly on the company, instead of reporting the correct data,

Ford submitted false data to be approved. I do not think the other virtues are as relevant because it had

nothing to do with charity, they were not indulging in anything except greed, and while it slightly had to

do with fidelity because they betrayed the government and consumers faith, it is not as relevant as the

other three. The only ethical virtue I feel could also apply would be patience. If the company and their

employees were a little more patient, they could have redesigned the compact vehicle into possibly a

cheaper and safer vehicle than what they had. Though out of a lack of integrity, honesty, and

responsibility, they went ahead with their first draft of the Ford Pinto.
 In conclusion, even though I did not think much of ethics within the engineering and business

world, they play a major role in it. Just like how in your everyday life you need ethics to make decisions,

they are needed in your business life as well. We often do not think of ethics as being essential to our

lives, but they are needed. I have taken that message with me and will be more conscious of my ethics

and my decisions in the future, both socially and in the workplace