Deck 7: Ethical Decision-Making: Technology and Privacy in the Workplace

Question 1

Marriott Resorts had a formal company party for more than 200 employees. At one point during the party, the company aired a videotape that compiled employees' and their spouses' comments about a household chore they hated. However, as a spoof, the video was edited to make it seem as if they were describing what it was like to have sex with their partner. One employee's wife was very upset by the video and sued Marriott for invasion of privacy. Evaluate her argument, focusing on the ethical arguments for a violation of her rights.

Answer 1

Privacy is the basic right of people and it could not be intruded by anyone without that individual's permission whose privacy is being intruded by others. This invasion of privacy leads to legal as well as ethical violations.
MR Hotels had been sued by a woman when at a formal office party of more than 200 employees and their spouses, the hotel aired a videotape showing which employee and the spouse hate which kind of household chore. And, as a spoof, this was shown as if these people are describing the kind of time they spend with their partner while having an intercourse. The woman who sued the hotel got very upset looking at the video and sued the hotel for invasion of privacy.
This case could be evaluated as per ethical considerations in a way that no one can invade or intrude the privacy of others without permission. And, if someone tries to make fun of an individual's private life or sex life, then it could be considered as a complete invasion of an individual's privacy which is a crime. Thus, to conclude it could be said that the hotel has acted unethically by airing a video at such a private matter of one's life although it was a spoof but it talked about one's private life in public making fun of it.

Question 2

Richard Fraser, an at-will independent insurance agent for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, was terminated by Nationwide and the parties disagree on the reason for Fraser's termination. Fraser argues that Nationwide terminated him because he filed complaints regarding Nationwide's allegedly illegal conduct, for criticizing Nationwide to the Nationwide Insurance Independent Contractors Association, and for attempting to obtain the passage of legislation in Pennsylvania to ensure that independent insurance agents could be terminated only for "just cause." Nationwide argues, however, that it terminated Fraser because he was disloyal. Nationwide points out that Fraser drafted a letter to two competitors saying that policy holders were not happy with Nationwide and asking whether the competitors would be interested in acquiring them. (Fraser claims that the letters were drafted only to get Nationwide's attention and were not sent.)
When Nationwide learned about these letters, it claims that it became concerned that Fraser might also be revealing company secrets to its competitors. It therefore searched its main file server-on which all of Fraser's e-mail was lodged-for any e-mail to or from Fraser that showed similar improper behavior. Nationwide's general counsel testified that the e-mail search confirmed Fraser's disloyalty. Therefore, on the basis of the two letters and the e-mail search, Nationwide terminated Fraser's employment agreement. The search of his e-mail gives rise to Fraser's claim for damages under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA). Do you believe the employer was justified in monitoring the employee's e-mail and then terminating him? What ethical arguments do you believe either side could use in this case?

Answer 2

Electronic Communication Privacy Act, 1986 (ECPA) stands for the act to restrict at the usage and transmission of wire mails and communications to provide secured data storage.
Mr. RF filed a case against his employer NN Insurance for the violation of Electronic Communication Privacy Act, 1986 (ECPA) when the firm opened his emails and reviewed them so as to know what communications RF undertakes and with whom. The employer firm was having a doubt over the RF's actions that he is communicating company's secrets and the client's name to the competing firms and for this his letters and emails were reviewed by the firm. After a general counsel's confirmation that RF has sent emails carrying company's confidential information to the competitors, the firm terminated him and over this, RF filed a case against the firm for unjust termination and also for the violation of ECPA.
In this case, it could be said that the employer was justified in monitoring the employee's email and terminating him. This is because it is unacceptable for any firm to let its employee to share company's details with the competing firm. And, when the firm discovered two letters of RF carrying details for the competing firms, there was a doubt of disloyalty from RF's side, and to get more confirmed over this matter, the firm opened his emails which provides a justified reason to the firm to monitor the employee's email and terminate him.
Thus, it could be concluded that there is no other ethical argument that could be used either side in resolving this case's issue because the firm opened the employee's email only after having a doubt over him discovering his letters communicating company's secrets to the competitors which shows no other side of ethical consideration in this case.

Question 3

A customer service representative at an electronics store is surfing the Internet using one of the display computers. She accesses a website that shows graphic images of a crime scene. A customer in the store who notices the images is offended. Another customer service representative is behind the counter, using the store's computer to access a pornographic site, and starts to laugh. A customer asks him why he is laughing. He turns the computer screen around to show her the images that are causing him amusement. Is there anything wrong with these activities?

Answer 3

Ethics stand for the principles and values that makes an individual to choose between right and wrong, good and bad etc.
An electronic store's customer representative views graphical images of a crime at a displayed computer which offends a particular customer; in another instance, a customer rep is viewing porn sites at the computer at the service desk and is laughing, and when a customer asks the reason for his laugh, he turns the computer at the customer's side and shows him the reason for his laugh.
The above-mentioned activities are completely unethical and should not be undertaken in public. Watching porn sites and crime scenes at public places is outrageously wrong and should be avoided by people in public especially by the customer representatives. This is because the customers might take this kind of actions from the store or the sales representatives quite offensive and this might switch the customer to another store which could be a big loss for the store. Thus, to conclude it could be said that these kind of activities should be avoided in public and its mentioning to the customers.

Question 4

The term cybersquatting refers to the practice of: registering a large number of website domain names hoping to sell them at huge prices to others who may want the URL or who are prepared to pay to get rid of a potentially confusing domain name. For instance, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which operates www.peta.org, was able to shut down http://www.peta.com/, a pro-hunting website that dubbed itself "People Eating Tasty Animals." Cybersquatters often determine possible misspellings or slightly incorrect websites with the hopes that the intended website will pay them for their new domain. For example, someone paid over $7 million for the address www.business.com. In one case, one day after a partnership was announced that would result in an online bookstore for the Toronto Globe Mail newspaper, Richard Morochove, a technology writer, registered the domain chapters-globe.com. When the partnership demanded that he stop using the name, he promptly agreed, as long as he received a percentage of the sales from the Chapters/Globe website. The case went to trial. In situations such as these, do you believe the cybersquatter is doing anything wrong? What options might the "intended website" owner have?

Question 5

Spam, or spamming, refers to the use of mailing lists to blanket usenets or private e-mail boxes with indiscriminate advertising messages. Some people believe that spamming should be protected as the simple exercise of one's First Amendment right to free speech while others view it as an invasion of privacy or even theft of resources or trespass to property, as Intel argued when a disgruntled ex-employee spammed more than 35,000 Intel employees with his complaints. In that case, the court agreed, considering his e-mail spamming equivalent to trespassing on Intel's property and recognizing that Intel was forced to spend considerable time and resources to delete the e-mail messages from its system.
It is amusing to note that the source of the term spam is generally accepted to be the Monty Python song, "Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam…" Like the song, spam is an endless repetition of worthless text. Others believe that the term came from the computer group lab at the University of Southern California, which gave it the name because it has many of the same characteristics as the lunchmeat Spam:
• Nobody wants it or ever asks for it.
• No one ever eats it; it is the first item to be pushed to the side when eating the entree.
• Sometimes it is actually tasty, like 1 percent of junk mail that is really useful to some people.
Using stakeholder analysis, make an argument that spamming is either ethical or unethical.

Question 6

Term papers on practically every subject imaginable are available on the Internet. Many of those who post the papers defend their practice in two ways: (1) These papers are posted to assist in research in the same way any other resource is posted on the Web and should simply be cited if used; and (2) these papers are posted in order to encourage faculty to modify paper topics and/or exams and not to simply bring back assignments that have been used countless times in the past. Are you persuaded? Is there anything unethical about this service in general? If so, who should be held accountable, the poster, the ultimate user, or someone else?

Question 7

A college provided its security officers with a locker area in which to store personal items. The security officers occasionally used the area as a dressing room. After incidents of theft from the lockers and reports that the employees were bringing weapons to campus, the college installed a video surveillance camera in the locker area. Did the employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy that was violated by the video surveillance? Explain.

Question 8

While some companies block employee access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, others have a more permissive attitude. Explain several reasons why a company might choose to permit - or be indifferent to - employee access to social networks.

Question 9

You work as an accountant at large accounting firm where your job leaves you with a lot of down time at the office in between assignments. You spend this time on your office computer developing a program that can make your job even more efficient and it might even be a breakthrough in the industry. This new product could be a huge success and you could make a lot of money. You think of quitting your job and devoting all your time and resources to selling this new product. However, you have developed this product using company equipment and technology, and also used the time you were at work. Do these facts raise any red flags in terms of ethical issues? What should you do?

Question 10

As you learned in this chapter, drug testing in the work place is a somewhat controversial issue in terms of employer responsibilities and employee rights. Using sources from the web, discuss the pros and cons of these programs.