Why ethics?

Ethics in engineering is an important topic, every day, new technologies are discovered
and created, and those technologies have unforeseen consequences that engineers must be
cautious of even if they don’t know what they are yet. The code of ethics lets engineers traverse
the grey area of new technologies without endangering themselves or others and rooting
themselves in proper morals for creating technologies that will help further society instead of
regressing.

When I encounter a situation that could violate mine or the engineering code of ethics, I
imagine myself as an outsider looking in and deciding whether I would support this. I would look
at my beliefs and values held as well as the values I must uphold through the Code of Ethics
given to me. If my decision in my situation doesn’t violate any of my ethics or the code of ethics,
then I am free to make that decision. If it does, I must find a way to correct my decision so that it
follows my ethics and the engineering code of ethics.

In class, we discussed multiple issues, of them included the Volkswagen debacle with
their Pinto car line during the 1970s, as it would explode if the gas tank were ruptured during a
collision, as well as a story with Amazon not handing over personal data that could incriminate
someone without their consent or a warrant or subpoena. These were the majority of issues
discussed. In these issues, I believe that my classmates and I’s ethical considerations were
similar, although they did have a few differences. We agreed that amazon acted ethically by not
releasing the information without a warrant or subpoena and that VW engineers had violated
ethical guidelines when designing the VW Pinto. The places we differed was during the amazon
discussion, where I was more focused on the importance of privacy and not sharing personal
data, which is amazon’s responsibility others were looking at it from the good of society
perspective rather than my individual-centered perspective. We agreed, however, that when a
subpoena or warrant was issued for the information, it then became good for society over
individual privacy.

For my case study, I chose the amazon echo issue as it was the one that I believe
connected with me the most personally, as I care for things like digital privacy. The amazon
echo case showed the virtues of integrity, fidelity, and responsibility. Integrity considers the
ability of a company to follow its ethics and not bend under outside influences, this was shown
when amazon would not hand over the data without a warrant being issued to them for the data.
Fidelity, or faithfulness, was shown by amazon when they were faithful to their client and their
data instead of handing over the evidence just because the client was accused of something.
Finally, responsibility was shown when they acted for the good of their customer and acted in
accordance with their policy of data collection and retainment in their devices, keeping the trust
between company and client unbroken throughout the issue.

The other virtues are less relevant in this situation because they didn’t apply in my mind;
there was no test of honesty as they didn’t secretly hand over the information or collect
information without the customer's knowledge. Charity wasn’t as applicable as I think the
actions that amazon took that could be considered charitable in this situation fit better into
responsibility and fidelity. Finally, I do not think that self-discipline was applicable as there was
no personal gain for anyone at amazon to just hand over the information without going through
the proper channels.

I believe that in this situation and others, being decisive is a good virtue. In the amazon
echo case, it could be applied to their unwavering decision not to hand over data without the
police going through the proper authorities. I also believe that this is a good trait to have, as
being decisive can help in situations where a decision needs to be made quickly and held to
instead of some situations where people will jump between solutions and not reach one in time.