Ethics & Privacy

Respond to the following 2 questions in a total of 2 full pages following APA guidelines:

1. You
have been working for the XYZ Computer Corporation as an entry-level
software engineer since you graduated from college last May. You have
done very well so far; you are respected by management, are well liked
by your fellow employees, and have been assigned to a team of engineers
that has consistently worked on the most critical and valued projects
and contracts that XYZ Corp. has secured. Their most recent contract is
for a United States defense project involving the missile defense
system, and again you have been assigned to the team that will develop
software for this project. However, you are staunchly opposed to the
project’s objectives, so you ask to be reassigned. Your superisor and
coworkers, as well as upper management, are disappointed to learn of
your strong feelings about this project. You are asked to reconsider
your views, and you are promised a bonus and a substantial pay increase
if you agree to work on this project during the next year. You also
discover from a colleague that refusing to work on this project would
greatly diminish your career advancement at XYZ and may even make you
vulnerable to future layoffs. To compound matters, you and your spouse
are expecting your first child in about three months and you recently
purchased a home. What would you do? Describe the process of ethical
deliberation that you would undertake in trying to resolve this dilemma.

2.
In the days and weeks immediately following the tragic events of
September 22, 2001, some political leaders claimed that extraordinary
times call for extraordinary measures; in times of war, basic civil
liberties and freedoms, such as privacy, need to be severely restricted
for the sake of national security and safety. Perhaps as a nation, the
value that we have traditionally attached to privacy has diminished
significantly since then. Initially, the majority of American citizens
strongly supported the Patriot Act, which passed by an overwhelming
margin in both houses of Congre3ss and was enacted into law on October
21, 2001. Howevery, between 2001 and 205 support for this act diminished
considerably. Many privacy advocates believe that it goes too far and
thus erodes basic civil liberties. Some critics also fear that certain
provisions included in the act could easily be abused. Eamine some of
the details of the Patriot Act and determine whether its measures are as
extreme as its critics suggest. Are those measures consistent with the
value of privacy, which Americans claim to embrace? Do privacy interests
need to be reassessed, and possibly recalibrated, in light of ongoing
threats from terrorists?

Last Completed Projects