Question: Ethical or Not?
Morgan works as a receptionist in a police department computer center. At work, Morgan has access to local and national arrest records. All of this information is in the public domain: individual arrest records are publicly available from police blotters. No laws or rules govern Morgan’s handling of this information.
Terry, Morgan’s friend, is in charge of security in a large organization and is responsible for performing background checks on new employees. The new employees sign statements allowing their employer to investigate their backgrounds, including arrest records. Terry regularly asks Morgan for and receives copies of all arrest records for new employees. Morgan does this for Terry as a favor, since it saves Terry time.
Discuss with the person next to you: Is Morgan doing anything unethical? What about Terry? Why or why not?
Write down your key points. (As usual, we’ll collect these.)