Case Analysis: Professional Ethics

In The code I’m still ashamed of by Bill Sourour, he discusses his grievances of creating an application that caused a young woman to commit suicide. He always followed the status quo concerning his future goals and overall path; He has been coding since he was a teenager and eventually started to work in an interactive advertising company in Canada. The company that Sourour worked at often collaborated with well-known pharmaceutical enterprises in order to help them generate more consumers. The government in Canada made sure that every pharmaceutical enterprise gives factual information about their medical products in order for other companies to collaborate with them and create a more honest advertisement for the specific business. Although Canada’s government required Sourour and his company to look at the medicine’s specifications, the application they created was gaslighting consumers. His bad judgements ultimately caused a young woman to commit suicide. In this Case Analysis I will argue that [ethical tool] shows us that the code was morally problematic because it manipulated consumers, and that Sourour should have done anything differently because he failed to do his due diligence.

                In “ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct” was written and implemented by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) council and the ACM Code discusses the guidelines that their employees must adhere to. The ACM Code was meant for employees to make ethically sound decisions in a professional setting and consider all parties impacted. There are four sections within the ACM code that addresses personal obligations. Section one summarizes ethical concerns, while section two highlights professional behavior. Section three provides guidelines for those who take on leadership positions, while section four specifies compliance. It also operates as a foundation for evaluating the importance of official complaints concerning the violation of professional and ethical guidelines. The guidelines within the ACM Code are more proactive; the Code provides examples of scenarios that professionals will likely encounter throughout their careers. It also provides answers on how professionals should respond to incidents. Although the ACM Code is an important document that promotes ethical and professional conduct, its guidelines can be modified.

               The “ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct” did not align with the advertisement company practices and beliefs that Sourour was employed to. There were not any rules that Sourour had to specifically adhere to in order to ensure that their products did not compromise people’s safety. Although Sourour’s employer had some expertise in how pharmaceuticals companies operate, he ignored simple regulations that could have prevented a young woman from committing suicide. The Canadian government created strict laws that promoted consumer safety. In Canada Sourour states that they emphasize the importance of making sure pharmaceutical companies offered full disclosure on their medical products and labels. The advertisements had to provide both the benefits and side effects of the medicine that the pharmaceutical company was trying to promote. As a result, many companies advertising their products in Canada would provide information about what the medicine was meant to treat and the symptoms the medicine may cause. The “ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct” specifies that employees must comply with laws that correlate with business. Companies should adhere to local, state, region, nationwide, and international laws. If an employee or company disregards the laws established by their local or national government, they have to take accountability and be prepared for the consequences. Also, under the ACM Code, they want companies to be more honest and trustworthy. The code states that a professional should not consciously make a deceitful system design.   When Sourour was assigned to create a quiz for a pharmaceutical company in order to promote their drug, Sourour states that he only accounted for what the company wanted. Sourour did not consider the consumers instead, he worried about the task at hand, which ultimately led to a life-changing predicament. Although he admitted that the request seemed sketchy, his main concern was to make sure that his clients were happy with his quiz. He eventually learned that the side effects of the pharmaceutical drug were depression and suicidal thoughts. The ethical tool that is prevalent for this case analysis is Confucianism. As an employee, Sourour only cared about his customer being happy with the quiz, not the effects that it will cause consumers. His software worked accordingly with the client’s request. He only advertised the information that the company was willing to provide without probing any further. As a solution, Sourour and his advertising could have adhered to Canada’s laws about companies providing truthful information on the medical products that they were trying to promote. They should have done their own research on the medicine before they decided to create an advertisement for them. Also, they should have avoided participating in deceptive actions by omitting information. Thus, Sourour’s failure to properly provide information on both the benefits and problems of the drug after the quiz caused a serious incident.

               In “Confidentiality: A Comparison across the Professions of Medicine, Engineering, and Accounting,” Mary Armstrong discusses professional confidentiality. Armstrong argues that it is a professional’s duty to work in ordinance with public safety. She states that professionals should ensure that utilizing exclusive knowledge and monopoly will aid society, not damage society. Although companies should maintain confidentiality in order to maintain people’s right to privacy, there are some instances in which confidentiality can harm others. The document states that confidentiality is considered to be prima facie, meaning that the term can be used ambiguously. The document emphasizes that confidentiality is a good practice to be a proponent of, but it undermines the people that the ethical principle is trying to protect, it will become a problem. Throughout the document, some examples show that maintaining confidentiality is not the best decision for professionals to exercise, especially if they are witnesses to concerning the information.

               In The code I’m still ashamed of Sourour and the pharmaceutical company are guilty of applying confidentiality in a destructive manner. The pharmaceutical drug company wanted to use destructive tactics to get people to purchase their medicine and Sourour’s code embedded the company’s deceptive methods into the quiz. Sourour’s quiz profiled a group of people who would most likely be consumers of the product; The pharmaceutical expressly focused on teenage girls to be the main consumers for the drug. Sourour used certain designs that would entice teenage girls into selecting his quiz. Sourour states that the visuals and the website’s design made it apparent that teenage girls were going to attract them into participating in the quiz. They failed to consider other people to market their drug to. They chose a group of people who are known to not do their own thorough research on the drug that the pharmaceutical company was trying to promote. Sourour’s design helped the pharmaceutical company accomplish their intentions. While Sourour created the website to advertise the pharmaceutical company’s medicine, Sourour’s website was supposed to provide general information to consumers. The website implied to be unbiassed towards other pharmaceutical drugs. Instead, the website mostly advertised for one pharmaceutical drug company. Sourour listened to the company’s requests and utilized their input. He embedded questions and answers made by his client in the quiz. He never considered where his answers would lead to. While Sourour’s project manager was testing the quiz, she found some irregularities. She exclaimed to Sourour that the quiz he made for the pharmaceutical company was does not operate correctly. At the end of the quiz regardless of the answers she chooses she will always be offered Sourour’s clients’ medicine. The only time she got another result was when she selected that she is allegoric to the ingredients in the pharmaceutical drug, or she already takes the medicine. Sourour took his project manager’s statements and ignored them. In “Confidentiality: A Comparison across the Professions of Medicine, Engineering, and Accounting,” Armstrong states that whistleblowing sometimes occurs when somebody within the workplace witnesses unethical procedures from the company. She acknowledges that whistleblowing is a valid response when nobody in the company is trying to rectify the problem. Companies have to make sure that their products do not cause harm because they have the responsibility to protect consumers. Once he found out that a young woman fell victim to the drug and killed herself because of its dangerous side effects, he told his sister to stop taking the medicine. This case analysis relates to the ethical tool Confucianism because as a sibling, he notified his sister about the side effects of the drug. Also, as a worker he admitted to his project manager that the quiz was meant to direct teenagers into using the pharmaceutical drug. He also made sure that his website would be attractive to teenagers, which was his obligation as a coder. As a solution, Sourour could have provided some advice to pharmaceutical company on how to make the quiz more ethical. He could have made the test results fairer or not target a group of people who are not mentally mature. He also could have gone to the higherups and complain about the consequences of his quiz in order to discontinue the website. Thus, Sourour used predatory methods to advertise his clients’ company.

               Therefore, Sourour and his company grossly neglected consumers; they failed to ensure that the pharmaceutical company they were supposed to help promote their drug was honest. Although they wanted to listen to their clients and successfully carry out their task, their actions caused serious consequences that harmed many young girls. There were several ways to avoid some of the controversy that ensued from the quiz. Sourour ultimately felt bad about his role in creating the quiz and website to promote the pharmaceutical drug. He strived to change his actions and question things that seem morally wrong. I acknowledge that there are several flaws in my logic too. Sometimes, companies do not have the opportunity to thoroughly research their clients before collaborating with them. They perceive that the information given to them by the company they are working with is honest throughout their partnership. Also, whistleblowing is hard for employees to do because they will receive some backlash and sometimes people do not take their warning seriously enough. Whistleblowing can cause people to lose their jobs, credibility, and security. Also, some companies will not hire people who are known to be whistleblowers most of the time. Overall, Sourour should have used different methods to create the pharmaceutical quiz because it caused people to purchase a harmful drug.