One of my friends worked for a telecommunication company which required them to gather information on corporations. Knowing that corporations would not release information to a rival company, my friend was instructed to mask their her as a survey, or introduce herself as a student trying to gather data for a school project.
I really struggled to decide whether this small lie was ethical. On one hand, I value honesty and believe that this action is unethical. On the other hand though, the information that my friend was requesting was hardly personal or incriminating. I feet that if the corporation is willing to reveal information to a student for a school project, then it is not so much a big deal. I also believe that if this tactic helps the telecommunication company, then it would be in their best interest to continue.
Although this issue can be analyzed from different ethical points of view, I truly think that in this situation lying is acceptable. When I compare the benefits (information on other corporations) against the costs (a small lie), I see that the benefits greatly outweigh the costs and is therefore a reasonable strategy. I am extremely curious to see though, what does anyone else think of this??
I dont think its too unethical to lie in this case. Like you mentioned, a company wouldn’t reveal anything to valuable to a student.
Thanks for writing an ethics post, Alvin. I’ve had students debate this issue in some of my 4th-year courses before, because they experienced the same conundrum in doing student projects — for real-world clients. They were being honest when they said they were students, but they often omitted the detail that they were doing their student project for a competitor — which many of the students felt would have changed the level or type of information that a company would have shared with them if that company knew they were producing their report for a competitor. My advice to them was always to listen to their gut: if it’s uneasy, try to find another way to get the information you need that won’t make you feel uncomfortable (i.e. listen to your gut!).