John's Survey

Sunday, June 17, 2007 at 08:17PM
Doug Johnson in Ethics scenario

Privacy scenario #1

John fills out a survey form on a computer game web page. The survey asks for his email address, mailing address, and telephone number which he fills in. In the following weeks, he receives several advertisements in the mail as well as dozens of email messages about new computer games.

Questions

• Whose privacy is at risk?
• What danger or discomfort might the unethical or unwise action cause?
• Is there a parallel in the physical world to this scenario?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of a business knowing your personal likes and dislike?
• Can you think of other incidents that would fall into this category?

Comments
Children and young adults need to understand that businesses and organizations use information to market products. Sometimes this information is collected without a personâs permission or awareness that it is being collected. Information given to one organization may well sell it to others. An interesting discussion can revolve around how much a person would like a company to know about him or her. Will a company who knows a lot about me use it to customize products for me or only to manipulate me?

Article originally appeared on Doug Johnson Website (http://www.doug-johnson.com/).