CASE #1: Coping Up with Injustice
Gio works as a part time student employee at CSIT Department in their university. As part of his duties, he needed to install new software in Professor Umali’s desktop. Since it is accreditation period and everybody was in hurry to finish the needed PACUCOA documents and served their class. Professor Umali told Gio to go ahead to his office, installed the needed software, do whatever he is needed to do but be sure to logout his email before anything else. Professor Umali was having a bad semester; he became the target of SSC – Bad Teacher Go Out (BaTGo) project. The project has been part of a social networking site; where students can (1) upload satirical videos, (2) post sarcastic quotable quotes from teachers , (3) grading computation forums and (4) teacher’s photo. Videos and photos are very clever at making fun to the organization targets which became hit and popular to the students. This semester target was Professor Umali for his clumsiness’ and his baldness. Student also posted some pictures on the site a weekly picture of Professor Umali showing his head and the thinness of his hair. Gio has been part of Professor Umali’s class two (2) years ago. His been a good teacher for a long period of time, Gio and his colleagues can attest to that, Professor Umali during their time got the “eagle award winning” medal for being such a good one. Professor Umali’s competency and competitiveness to field of technology is priceless for them. He teaches everything and anything a student must learn in their field showing several projects and study to attest what’s really on the real world. Gio knows that this semester target was Professor Umali, he wanted to converse whatever is posted and uploaded on the site but he doesn’t know how. When he about to log out Professor Umali’s email, he noticed that the professors inbox was open. He catches a subject line that read “so sorry about your diagnosis”. Instead of logging out professor account, Gio open the record and read and found out that Professor Umali was diagnosed to have a prostate cancer. Gio thinks that what is happening in the trial was injustice. He thinks that the best way to counterpart those allegations is to post something credible on the site that will prove that Professor Umali was really a good one that his baldness and clumsiness was only an effect of his medication. That evening he posted a comment and video of Professor Umali showing good sides of the professor, challenging those students who wanted the professor to be out in the university. Gio was in hot seat in the organization, his comment and video was up and gain enormous comments and challenges for him to tell where those stuff came from. He immediately answered those questions that he read the email of Professor Umali who was accidentally left open in the office where he is asked to install accreditation software. That comment had immediate consequences. The following day, Mr. Tubero, Gio’s immediate superior called him in a private conference. Mr. Tubero, pointed out that Gio’s action violated privacy policy of their department. Policy was carefully discussed and emphasized to Gio when he signed contract with the company. His signature was affix to the documents which shows his willingness to follow the policy. He violated the ethical standards of his job and his chosen profession. He behaved unprofessionally. Gio tried to explain the reasons for her actions, but Mr. Tubero said that it is written in the contract therefore it is valid. Gio get fired and no recommendation was given for his future employment.
Questions:
1. Were Gio’s actions moral? Explain.
2. Were Gio’s actions ethical? Explain.
3. Was Mr. Tubero justified in firing Gio? Explain.
4. Suppose Gio had not been in Professor Umali’s office because of his job with IT services. Suppose he simply been a student who was in the office for a conference when Professor Umali was called away from some reason. Would that change either of your first two answers? Explain.
5. Did Professor Umali behave ethically when he asked Gio to log his off rather than doing it himself? Explain.
6. To what extend does Gio violates under ACM code of Ethics.
To answer these questions, let's go through each one and explain the reasoning behind the answers:
1. Were Gio's actions moral? Explain.
Gio's actions can be seen as morally justified if his intention was to defend and support Professor Umali, whom he believed was being unfairly targeted by the students. However, from an ethical standpoint, it is important to balance the intention with the means used to achieve it.
2. Were Gio's actions ethical? Explain.
From an ethical perspective, Gio's actions can be considered unethical. He violated Professor Umali's privacy by reading his email without consent or proper authorization. Additionally, he posted personal information about Professor Umali's medical condition, which goes against ethical principles of confidentiality and respect for individuals' privacy.
3. Was Mr. Tubero justified in firing Gio? Explain.
Yes, Mr. Tubero was justified in firing Gio. Gio violated the privacy policy that he had agreed to when he signed his contract with the company. By breaching the policy and behaving unprofessionally, Gio was in violation of the terms of his employment.
4. Suppose Gio had not been in Professor Umali's office because of his job with IT services. Suppose he simply been a student who was in the office for a conference when Professor Umali was called away for some reason. Would that change either of your first two answers? Explain.
If Gio had been a student unrelated to his job and accidentally stumbled upon Professor Umali's open email, it would not change the ethical assessment of his actions. Reading someone's personal email without permission is still a breach of privacy and unethical behavior, regardless of his role or purpose in the office.
5. Did Professor Umali behave ethically when he asked Gio to log off his email rather than doing it himself? Explain.
Professor Umali's request for Gio to log off his email can be seen as a breach of ethical conduct. While it is understandable that he wanted to save time, it is the responsibility of the email account owner to ensure the security and confidentiality of their own email. By asking Gio to do it, Professor Umali indirectly put Gio in a compromising position that led to the privacy breach.
6. To what extent does Gio violate the ACM code of Ethics?
The specific details of Gio's actions would need to be thoroughly evaluated to determine the extent to which he violated the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) code of ethics. However, his actions could potentially violate several principles, such as integrity, privacy, and professionalism, which are fundamental values outlined in the ACM code of ethics.