Problem
Analyze the following scenario. You work for a company specializing in database development. A private company asks you to develop a database that will contain confidential information of citizens owned by the government. This data may be used to generate lists of convicted child molesters, or marketing lists of new homebuyers. The people who will appear on these lists have not been informed that their personal data will be accessible to the public. Which of the following options do you think a utilitarian is most likely to choose? Which of the following options is an ethics officer most likely to select? Justify your remarks using the contents. (15 to 20 lines)
• You can opt out by objecting to secondary uses of information that people have not voluntarily provided.
• You can try to determine whether the benefits provided are more important than the privacy breaches or the inconveniences they may cause to certain people.
• You can decline to make marketing lists but agree to make targeted lists like people convicted of certain crimes, like convictions, etc., deciding that they should be in the public domain.