For the case study presented below, apply the ethical de presented in Section 11
ID: 361914 • Letter: F
Question
For the case study presented below, apply the ethical de presented in Section 11.5 to analyze the tion and provide a discussion of them. cision-making paradigm situation. Present potential courses of ac- exas A&M; Ethics Case Studies, http//ethics.tamu.edu neer who has been recruited directly out of college. For Case Study: Encryption Software (Te Reprinted by permission.) your first assignment, your boss asked you to write a piece of software to provide secu rity from "prying eyes" over emailed documents; these documents would be used in- termally by the company. This software will subsequently be distributed to different departments. Upon completion of this software project, you saw a program on the local news about an individual in California who has made similar software available overseas. This individual is currently under prosecution in a federal court for the distribution of algorithms and information which (by law) must remain within the United States for purposes of national security It occurs to you that your company is a multinational corporation and that the soft t overseas to other offices within the corporation. You speak with your rugs off this are certainly ware might have been distributed overseas. You then discover that the software has boss, informing him of the news program from the night before. He sh comment, stating that "The company is based in the United States and we to national security in any way. Beses, there s no way anyone will find out about software we use internally You agree with your boss, and let it go. Later on however, someone working as a contractor for the company overseas. Thoughom dence regarding the functionality the Middle Eastern office had been supplying this software contractors and dlients so that they could exchange secure emailed would you do in this situation? you receive a letter from of the software and technical matters, you learn that outside the company toExplanation / Answer
The best possible solution to start with would be:
1. Have a written communication from your boss that since the software would be used internally, the software can be distributed to its counterparts in other countries.
2. Keep the HR informed and the leagal team about it.
3. When you become aware of the act of the Middle Eastern office, let your boss, HR and the legal department know about it. The HR in coordination with the Legal department should have strictly passed a compliance amendment, instructing that the employees to not use this software for supplying outside the comapny.