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Garrett Powell

EE 394

12 December 2021

Ethics Essay

Wherever I end up finding a career, chances are, there will be a Code of Ethics that I will

have to follow as I go through my work. These ethics can range from making decisions that will

keep public safety and the environment in mind to treating everyone equally and avoiding

discrimination. The purpose for a need of a Code of Ethics is to ensure that decisions are being

made in everyone’s best interest. As they apply to the engineers, a Code of Ethics is very

important. If the ethics were followed properly, then engineers would make their decisions based

on making their design environmentally friendly, while being completely safe for the general

public to use, and avoiding discrimination during all stages of development.

As of writing this essay, I do not believe I have been in a position where I was presented

with a significant ethical situation. However, let’s say hypothetically that I am a part of a team

that is developing a new innovation that would greatly benefit the general public. During the

testings process, it is made aware that this could potentially be deemed harmful to the

environment. We have a choice to make, either continue to roll out the current design to avoid

profit losses or halt the entire process completely. The way I believe I would go about this

situation is to take the financial hit and stop all current processes going forward. I would begin to

do more research and try to determine if there is a way to make this environmentally friendly

while also maintaining the aspect of being beneficial to the general public. If no solution can be

found, then I would move on from the idea. The way I view it is that no amount of money to be
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earned or preserved is worth it if it will harm the environment or be a danger to the general

public.

One ethical issue that was discussed in my discussion group is the issue that arose with

the Amazon Echo. What happened in this situation is that a person was murdered in their home.

This person was an owner of Amazon products, most notably an Amazon Echo. The issue to be

discussed with this situation is that investigators trying to gain an understanding of the crime and

find the criminal went to Amazon and asked for details that could have been picked up by the

Echo. Their request was denied as Amazon was staying firm in their stance of not releasing

private information of their consumers. This issue was the most discussed within our group and it

appears that we all have come to the consensus that Amazon made the right decision with their

ethical situation. If Amazon chose to release this information, it could potentially set a precedent

that would make it easier to obtain this information in the future. There will undoubtedly be

people out there who will try to find any loophole necessary in order to gain access to this private

information and could wind up causing more harm than good in the long run.

Reviewing the Virtue of Ethics, I can apply three virtues that apply to the issue our group

discussed. The first one is Integrity. I felt like Integrity stood out because although Amazon

could have easily released the information, they viewed that as the less moral decision they could

have made. Protecting the private information of their consumers is clearly very important to

them and they may have avoided a situation where this information could be easier to gain access

to. Another virtue that stood out to me was Fidelity. Amazon was faithful to their consumers

knowing that they put their trust in them to protect their information. If Amazon has this

information on the ready, then they are destroying the trust with their consumers and not staying

faithful. The final virtue that I can apply to this situation is Responsibility. Although they could
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have assisted with the investigation, I do not believe it is their responsibility to hand over the

information to speed up the process. The information from the Amazon Echo surely cannot be

the only clue to solving the problem and I would imagine that there have been investigators out

there who have solved bigger cases with less information. Amazon’s responsibility here is to be

trustworthy, dependable, and reliable with their consumer’s private information in this case.

Honesty and Self-Discipline can be connected to this case loosely, but Charity does not apply.

They were not up to giving away their information to help with the investigation and Amazon is

not voluntarily helping others in this situation.

Overall, having a Code of Ethics in place is very important to ensure that decisions are

made in the best interest of everyone and the environment. These should apply to every person

who is in a position to make decisions that might run into ethical situations.