An Employee Database Management System

Facts Of the 16 case studies explored in this chapter, aU but two are anchored in specihc real-life episodes. This case is one of the two that is not. However, software engineers could easily find themselves in situations similar to the following.  

Ethical Issue The key ethical issue in this case is how Diane should respond to the client s choice of a DBMS design that offers weak security put differently, one that offers a low level of informational privacy protection for client s employees. 

Analysis For Diane to accept the client s choice of security level as instructions to be followed diligently and unquestioningly, and to design a DBMS that provides only weak security for the information involved, is to create an unreasonable risk of harm to the client s employees. For if she proceeds as directed, sensitive personal information about them would be accessible without much difficulty to individuals, be they fellow employees or hackers, with no legitimate right to see, capture, or exploit it. Such individuals could easily 

SIXTEEN CASE STUDIES OF ETHICAL ISSUES IN ENGINEERING 

If Diane genuinely believes that the weak protecfion / less secure system that the client opted for will in fact put the client s employees at an unreasonable risk of harm, then she has a derivative ethical responsibility, under FEREl, not to accommodate her client s money-saving system-design choice. 

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