CASE STUDY in ETHICS (GED 107)

FIRST SEMESTER OF

AY 2021-2022

Submitted by:

Submitted to:
 CASE STUDY SPAM FILTERING

I. GATHER THE FACTS

 The person who’s having an ethical dilemma was a network administrator for
a large company. He supports his family and he need his job in order to do it.
 While helping the staff member (which was the wife of that person’s friend) in
order for an email which has been block by the spam filtering release, that
person found out that it was an exchange of email between his friend’s wife
and its lover.
 That person was having a great trouble feeling and wants to tell his friend
about what he found out but he can’t use the email and reveal it to his friend
because he will violate the company policy in terms of email confidentiality
and he will lose his job if he will do it.

II. IDENTIFY THE STAKEHOLDERS

Admin
friend's
Admin's wife
close
friend Network
Administrator

Admin's
family

 Network Administrator- the person who’s having an ethical dilemma

because he discover the affair between his friend’s wife and its lover
 Admin’s Friend- a close friend of the admin and the husband of the
admin’s co-worker who is having an affair
 The wife – the one who’s having an affair and the co- worker of the
admin
 CASE STUDY SPAM FILTERING

 Admin’s family- people who were being supported by the admin with
the help of his job.

The Network Administrator is having trouble because he discovered

that his friend’s wife is having an affair but he couldn’t tell it to his friend
and use the email as an evidence because it is against the company’s
policy. If he will do so, he might lose his job and his family will be affected
since he is the one who supports his family but then he’s having a hard
time because he thinks that he was aiding the wife of his friend to get
away with adultery.

III. ARTICULATE THE DILEMMA

a. Christian Resources. The Christian moral life derives from the sacred books of
the Old and New Testaments, in particular from the ideas, values, and concerns
of Jesus Christ. In other words, the moral teachings of the biblical writings should
be consulted whenever necessary.
 In this case the admin friend’s wife is having an affair and fails to obey the
sixth of God’s Ten Commandments which is “Thou shall not commit
adultery”
b. Virtue. (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude). This theory referred to as
“Ethics of Being” as opposed to “Ethics of Doing”. It assumes that there are
certain ideals toward which we should strive, which provide for the full
development of our humanity.
 The admin was having a hard time and he’s virtues were being tested
because he feels guilt and he knows that his friend need to know the truth
because it is the right thing to do yet he is being stopped by the thought
that he may lose his job which he really need for his family.
c. Rights. a right is a justified claim on others, For example, if I have a right to
property, then I have a justified claim to protect my belongings against those who
might steal them.
 The admin’s friend has the right to know the truth about his wife because
 they are married but the network administrator doesn’t have the full rights
to reveal what he knows because he is just a friend and it is a family
matter between the wife and husband but as a person we have the right
 CASE STUDY SPAM FILTERING

to seek to peace of mind and that is what the network administrator wants
to do.
d. Utilitarianism- this theory suggests that ethical actions are those that provide
the greatest balance of good (pleasure) over evil (pain) for the most number of
people.
 The admin couldn’t just turn a blind eye for what he had discovered but
now his decision might affect his family so he needs to make a decision
that will bring pleasure for a great number of people rather than one.
e. Justice and Fairness- justice means giving each person what he or she
deserves, or what his or her due.
 In this case in order for justice to be given, the admin’s friend should
know the truth for him to decide what to do and so that the admin will
have peace of mind.

IV. LIST OF ALTERNATIVES

 Alternative no. 1: The admin could ask out his friend separately in order
for him to have a conversation with him and have the chance to asks
whether there is a problem within their husband and wife relationship so
that he could advice his friend to check on his wife and keep an eye on
her.
 Alternative no. 2: The admin could just hire a private investigator in
order to gather evidence between his friend’s wife affair and send it to his
friend anonymously so that he would be able to reveal the truth without
using the email as the evidence and without being linked as the one who
reveals it.
 Alternative no. 3: The admin could ask out his friend separately in order
for him to have a conversation with him and have the chance to asks
whether there is a problem within their husband and wife relationship so
that he could advice his friend to talk with his wife of what his wife wants
to happen and bravely accept it if his wife chose to separate.

V. COMPARE THE ALTERNATIVES WITH THE PRINCIPLES

 Both Alternative no. 1 and 3 falls under the principles of Justice and Fairness
where in the administrator was trying to form justice by asking about the
 CASE STUDY SPAM FILTERING

relationship of his friend and giving advice that could reveal the truth without
really saying the mistake of the other one to avoid hurting the other party and
losing his job but the probability to reveal that his friend’s wife is having an
affair could be excluded and not achieve since his friend wife might form
some sort of reasoning of continue to live with her husband and having an
affair.
 Alternative no. 2 falls under the principle of utilitarianism where when the
admin hires a private investigator to follow his friend’s wife and gather
evidence that she’s having an affair he could send the evidence anonymously
without being traced, using the email and without losing his job. The admin
would be able to reveal the truth so that his friend will know about it and he
will lose the feeling of guilt.

VI. WEIGH THE CONSEQUENCES

Alternative no. 1
 He would be able to maintain his job for his family
 There’s a chance that his friend would say that there are no problem going on
between them and there would be no assurance that his friend would know
that its wife was having an affair.

Alternative no. 2
 He would be able to maintain his job for his family and help his friend to find
out that its wife was having an affair without being linked as the one who
gives the tip about it.
 It could hurt his friend and brought his friend into a great shock.

Alternative no. 3
 He would be able to maintain his job for his family.
 It could not lead to the revelation of truth and his friend would only reject the
taught that he needs to separate with his wife. The chance that his friend
would be fooled for a long time is too high.

VII. MAKE A DECISION

 CASE STUDY SPAM FILTERING

In this case in order to reveal the truth there would be no easy and painless solution.
The best solutions is for the network administrator to talk with his friend so that he
would be able to know how his friend was, and he could also know about the state of
his friend’s relationship between its wife. Then the admin will proceed to his plan to
hire a private investigator to gather evidence and make sure that he was with his
friend when that anonymous person send the evidence so that he would be able to
give his friend an advice about how he would deal about that situation so that his
friend could avoid causing harm between the two of them.

With this solution the admin could maintain his job for his family and he will be able
to help his friend. Though it might hurt his friend a lot but it will able his friend to be
free from a wrong marriage, the admin just need to be with his friend and give all the
advices and help that he could in order for his friend to move on and go forward after
the revelation.