Jake Roskopf

EE 394

Tina Prouty

26/04/2022

Engineering Ethics
In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet contemplates life and

delivers the infamous soliloquy, “To be, or not to be, that is the question.” While this ponderance

uncovers a lot about the uncertainties of life and what the value of living life at all, a much more

practical question he could have asked is, “To be good, or not to be good.” This phrase might

sound a little frivolous, but it is the roots of what is called “ethics”. The discussion of what is

deemed moral or unjust has been contemplated for centuries by some of the most brilliant minds,

but when it comes to the current day, there are still some discrepancies to what is ethical within

the workplace. While the principles one chooses to follow may differ from person to person,

having a “Code of Ethics” to follow is a necessity to navigate the world in a positive way. It

allows a person to make decisions that help work towards a goal and to grow the community

they are a part of to what matters most. As engineers this is even more essential. Engineers are

the individuals most responsible for the advancement and production of products in society

today. Because of this, we must have some sort of bounds of what is deemed “good” or “not

good” so that we can impact our communities and the world in a positive way.

When faced with an ethical issue, I have a multitude of questions that I ask myself before

carrying forward. The first of these is the simple question “Why?” If I do not know why I am

doing something or why it is important to either myself or others, I don’t carry on without trying

to at least I loosely grasp this. This is because if I cannot answer this, I am no longer using my

critical thinking and reasoning to what the larger purpose of what I am doing. If this is that case,

it could lead me down a path that is in the total wrong direction and is potentially harmful to me
Jake Roskopf

EE 394

Tina Prouty

26/04/2022

or others. While the specifics might not need to be clarified, having a slight boundary to the

purpose is a necessity. Once this is outlined, I can begin to go down the rest of my checklist. Is

this decision in my best interest? What are the possible outcomes? Is this going to be harmful to

others? If I were to make this decision in a week, would I still make the same decision? By trying

to take in the bigger picture, it can make the smaller decision much easier to solve. Although my

specific values might change over time, having some sort of ethical code has allowed me to

focus on what is important right now and what is in front of me. However, after discussing with

my other classmates, how others face their ethical decision can be much different.

One case that this was particularly noticeable in was the case of the Amazon Echo. The

dilemma in this case was that Amazon withheld information from authorities that was stored on

an Amazon Echo device owned by a potential suspect that could have brought forth new

information on the case. While many opinions were shared, the majority of these revolved

around Charity, Responsibility, and Fidelity.

Many of my classmates felt strongly that Amazon was not being very charitable with the

information that they possessed. They had access to millions of files that could help solve

murders and could greatly benefit the well-being of society. With just a couple clicks, Amazon

would be doing a great deed for the authorities and could potentially take a killer off the streets.

While this is a valid point, it would not be very responsible of Amazon.

Being reliable is synonymous with being trusted and dependable. It means people can

always count on you and that you would not take advantage of them. I believed that by
Jake Roskopf

EE 394

Tina Prouty

26/04/2022

withholding the information from the authorities, Amazon was showing that they were being a

reliable company for consumers and would not just use the information they had for whatever

they please. In a day and age where personal information is stored everywhere and manipulated

for money, having recording devices in everyone’s home would be a gold mine. When producing

the Amazon Echo, the voice activation feature was designed for improved accessibility and not

as a new way to gain information. If Amazon did in fact decide to share the information on their

device (without proper legal action), it would be show consumers that their private information

would not be safe with Amazon products in their home and would cause a huge drop in trust.

Although it might seem like they are withholding information, they are in fact just protecting it

from future manipulation.

The last virtue that was largely discussed was fidelity. Responsibility and fidelity go hand

in hand in that there is a mutual faithfulness between two parties. The case was made that

Amazon was not being faithful to the public when they withheld information. They were not

thinking of the larger cause and how the information they had would be a great benefit to society.

They welded the power to be the saviors of many and the truth tellers of secrets. On the other

hand, Amazon was being faithful to their customers. They made the decision to protect the

people who pay to use their products and to not abuse the trust people had in these products.

When James Andrew Bates, the suspect in this case, bought his Echo, he had enough faith in

Amazon’s product to do what he needed. Whether Bates was a good or bad man was not the
Jake Roskopf

EE 394

Tina Prouty

26/04/2022

issue but the relationship between retailer and client. Amazon decided to take a hit in the public

eye to protect those who put their money and trust into their products.

While a lot could be discussed about this case and what came from these decisions,

looking through a moral lens can help us see what might happen for different paths. While the

future cannot be predicted, having a firm set of ethical boundaries can help build relationships

and trust of what you or your company will do in the future. While each decision has their own

consequences, following a “code” can help eliminate future problems and dilemmas.