DO YOU CONSIDER IT ETHICAL?

For each of the 11 items listed below, do one of the following three:

• Write an "A" in front of it if you consider doing it unethical. Explain why you consider doing it unethical; i.e., based on what definition of "ethical"?

• Write a "B" in front of it if you consider doing it ethical. Explain why you consider doing it ethical; i.e., based on what definition of "ethical"?

• Write a "C" in front of it if you consider doing it ethical only under certain circumstances. Explain those circumstances.

___ 1. Keeping a secret record on your employees (i.e., keeping information about an employee without an employee knowing it).

___ 2. Monitoring the e-mail of your employees.

___ 3. Borrowing a smart idea from a commercial software developed by someone else and using that idea (after cosmetic changes for legal protection) in a software program you are developing for sale.

___ 4. Copying a commercial software (for professional use) from a friend who has bought it (and doing it with his permission).

___ 5. Penetrating (hacker style) the computer network of a large credit reporting bureau, and accessing consumer files, credit card numbers, and other confidential information, and selling that information to a third party for a huge sum, while being 100% sure that you will never be caught and punished.

___ 6. Refusing to reimburse a client whose business was damaged because the sofware program he purchased from you had a serious bug in it that damaged his business.

___ 7. Intentionally damaging your personal workstation at work shortly before you are to be fired for an unjust reason, and doing it in such an artful way that it will look like an accident and you won't be suspected or liable.

___ 8. Infecting the entire network of your employer with a deadly virus shortly before you are to be fired for an unjust reason, and doing it in such an artful way that it will look like an accident and you won't be suspected or liable.

___ 9. Accessing your employer's computing technology (such as ERP or CRM) remotely on weekends and using it for personal gain (consulting), and doing so without the knowledge of your employer and with the assurance that you will not be caught.

___ 10. Learning that a newly developed technology will protect your employees from the harmful physiological effects of working with their computers, and yet refusing to buy it for them because it puts a dent in your budget (your employees don't know about the technology).

___ 11. Automating some employees out of their jobs to save money for the company you own.