Cases and Ideas in Professional Ethics

Table of Contents

• Foreword

Biomedical Engineering

• HeLa Cells and Timeless Ethics
• Fishbein and the NIH
• Matthias Rath and Cellular Medicine
• Frances Oldham Kelsey and Thalidomide
• The Guatemala Syphilis Experiment
• Peter Buxtun and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study
• Purdue Pharma and OxyContin
• David Franklin, Parke-Davis, and Neurontin
• Vioxx: Merck and the FDA
• Love Canal, New York
• Kenneth Kendrick and Peanuts
• Peter Rost and Pfizer
• Resistance to Polio Vaccination in Northern Nigeria
• Kunal Saha and the World Bank
• Hwang Woo-suk and Stem Cells
• Eli Lilly and Zyprexa
• Kit Foshee and Beef Product Incorporated
• Andrew Wakefield and the MMR Vaccine
• Medical Ghostwriting
• Conrad Gorinsky, the Wapishana, and Biopiracy
• Victoria Hampshire and Lester Crawford
• Luk Van Parijs and Data Fabrication
• Martin Shkreli, Turing Pharmaceuticals, and Daraprim
• Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants
• Tyler Shultz, Elizabeth Holmes, and Theranos
• The FDA Nine
• April Evans and NASA
• Krebiozen
• Jonathan Lundgren and USDA
• Martin Keller, SmithKline Beecham, and Study 329
• Fen-Phen and American Home Products
• The Disneyland Measles Outbreak of 2014-2015
• Rhona Applebaum, Coca-Cola, and Health Research
• Yoshitaka Fujii and Medical Research Fraud
• Shiv Chopra and Livestock
• Medicine, AI, and Professional Discretion
• Stanley Pons, Martin Fleischmann, and Cold Fusion
• Dr Daniel Merenstein, Medical Screening, and Professional Discretion
• Vicky Phelan, Grainne Flanelly, David Gibbons, and Cervical Check
• PIP
• He Jiankui and Designer Babies
• Insulin: The Deadly Price

Chemical Engineering

• Union Carbide and Bhopal
• Myron Mehlman and Mobil Corporation
• Times Beach, Missouri
• Frederic Whitehurst and the FBI
• Jeffrey Wigand and Brown & Williamson
• Deborah Rice and the American Chemistry Council
• Mark Whitacre and Archer Daniels Midland
• Manjunath Shanmughan and the Indian Oil Corporation
• BP Texas City Refinery Explosion
• Mectizan Donation Program
• Freedom Industries and the Elk River
• PEPCON Ammonium Perchlorate Plant Explosion
• The Valero Refinery Fire
• Gepp, Dee, and Lentz, and the leak at Aberdeen Proving Ground
• The Case of Marlene Garcia-Esperat
• Greenpeace, Donors Trust, and climate change research
• Lenny Bernstein, Exxon, and Climate Change
• Raymond Orbach, Charles Groat, and Fracking Research
• Tianjin Chemical Storage Explosions
• Arthur Galston and Agent Orange
• Toxic Gas Releases at Honeywell’s Baton Rouge Refrigerant Plant
• Mona Hanna-Attisha and Lead Exposure in Flint, Michigan
• DuPont, C8, and Parkersburg, West Virginia
• Thomas Midgely Jr. and the Rise and Fall of Tetraethyl Lead
• Port of Beirut Chemical Explosion

Civil Engineering

• Boston's Big Dig Project
• Bruce Boler and the EPA
• Collapse of the TV Antenna in Missouri City, Texas
• Collapse of the “Swinging Bridge,” Heber Springs, Arkansas
• Ed Turner and the City of Idaho Falls
• The Flint Water Supply
• Jack Gillum and the Hyatt Regency Skywalks
• Manoj Kumar Gupta and Shiv Das
• Satyendra Dubey and the National Highways Authority of India
• URS and the I-35 Bridge
• William LeMessurier and the CitiCorp Building
• The GE Three
• San Bruno Pipeline Explosion
• FIU Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

Computer Science and Engineering

• Aaron Swartz and Information Freedom
• Shawn Carpenter and Sandia National Laboratories
• Mark Klein and Room 641A
• Therac-25
• Kevin Mitnick
• BitTorrent and BitCoin
• Kim Dotcom and Megaupload
• Sockpuppetry
• Lulzsec
• Corruption at the National Security Agency
• Edward Snowden and the NSA
• Google Street View and Wi-Spy
• The Death of Elaine Herzberg
• Response to Sony Hack of 2014
• Ariane 5 Flight 501
• David Barksdale and Digital Privacy
• Ellen Pao, Reddit, and the trolls
• Phillip Rogaway, Computer Scientists, and Government Surveillance
• Honest Shanghai
• Thorlaug Agustsdottir: Free Speech and Abuse on Social Media
• Apple, the FBI, Personal Data
• Tor, CMU, and the FBI
• Volkswagen's Emissions Scandal
• Predictive Policing
• Zenimax v. Oculus VR
• Geofeedia, Social Media, and Law Enforcement
• Margaret Goodearl, Ruth Ibarra, and Hughes Microelectronics
• Apple Batteries: Transparency, Trust, and Technology
• Vigilant Solutions, Law Enforcement, and Privacy
• Justin Rosenstein and the Like Button
• Tristan Harris, Time Well Spent, and Smartphones
• The Developers Union
• The Equifax Data Leak
• Chamath Palihapitiya and Facebook
• Ashok Chandwaney, Sophie Zhang, and Facebook
• Knightscope and Autonomous Data Machines
• Cody Wilson and the Liberator
• The Firing of James Damore
• The Right to Repair
• Apple, iPhone Software, and Planned Obsolescence
• Amazon, Rekognition, and Law Enforcement
• The 2015 Open Letter in Autonomous Weapons
• Microsoft Employees, Project JEDI, and HoloLens
• Mike Davidson, Rahul Vohra, and Superhuman
• The Rise and Fall of the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council
• Google Employees and Project Maven
• Andy Rubin, Google, and Sexual Harassment in Tech
• Data Ownership
• Software Vulnerability Disclosure
• Ian Bogost, Nadia Eghbal, and Software Engineers
• Barry Lynn, New America Foundation, and Google
• The Google Walkouts of 2018
• Parler and the Capitol Insurrection of 2021
• Timnit Gebru and Ethical AI at Google
• Tom Yardic and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota
• The GitHub Employee Dismissal of January 8, 2021
• Suspension of @realDonaldTrump
• Sexism, Riot Games, and a Class Action Lawsuit
• Cher Scarlett and Tech Labor Advocacy
• Rebekah Jones, Ron DeSantis, and the Florida Department of Health
• Tang Mingfang, Foxconn, and Amazon
• Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and User Data
• Frances Haugen and Facebook
• Labor Organizing at Google
• Thomas le Bonniec and Siri

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• Mars Climate Orbiter
• Air France Flight 447
• Ernest Fitzgerald and the Lockheed C-5A
• Rodney Rocha and Columbia
• The Ford Pinto Gas Tank Controversy
• The Toyota Recalls of 2009-2010
• Mark Lund and the FAA
• The Explosion on Deepwater Horizon
• Roger Boisjoly, Morton Thiokol, and NASA
• LaMia Flight 2933
• The Loss of USS Thresher
• Apollo 1
• Apollo 13
• Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251
• David Lappa and the Lawrence Livermore National Lab
• Northeast Blackout of 2003
• The Loss of Ocean Ranger
• China Airlines Flight 611
• Chesley Sullenberger and US Airways Flight 1549
• Vince Weldon and the 787
• Don Baker and Smart Meters
• John Houbolt and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
• Takata Corporation and Airbags
• Tom Williams and the Wings of the A380
• TWA Flight 800
• Larry Gibson and Mountaintop Removal
• Frances (Poppy) Northcutt, Apollo, and Women in Tech
• William McNeilly and Trident
• The Loss of Petrobras Platform 36

Systems and Information Engineering

• Salvador Castro and Air-Shields, Inc
• The Aviation Safety Reporting System
• Ladbroke Grove Rail Collision
• The MGM Grand Hotel Fire
• William Sanjour and the EPA
• Fort Totten Metro Crash

Nuclear Engineering

• George Galatis and Millstone 1
• Chernobyl Disaster
• Walter Tamosaitis and the Hanford Site

Other Cases in Professional Ethics

• Alexander Coward and the UC Berkeley Department of Mathematics
• Archer Blood and the Blood Telegram
• The U.N. and Cholera in Haiti
• Ethics and ADHD Diagnosis
• John Stumpf, Wells Fargo, and Salesmanship
• A Matter of Honor: Lou Bloomfield and Academic Dishonesty
• Ball Don't Lie: The Moral Code of the NBA
• Cheating Scandal at Malmstrom Air Force Base
• Rolling Stone & UVA: A Case on Professional Journalism
• Amy Stroupe and BB&T
• Badminton Scandal of the 2012 Olympics
• Bernie Madoff's Ponzi Scheme
• The Bogdanov Affair
• BP's Response to the Deepwater Horizon Spill
• Bradley Birkenfeld, the UBS Whistle-blower
• Brett Crozier and the U.S. Navy
• Chelsea Manning: Integrity Vs. Professionalism
• British American Tobacco and the Promotion of Smoking
• Canadian Caper
• The Case of Bowe Bergdahl
• The Case of Juan Williams, Vivian Schiller, and Ellen Weiss
• Cynthia Cooper and Worldcom
• Dan Graves and ITT Educational Services
• Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
• David Lewis and EPA
• The Dismissal of President Teresa Sullivan
• Electronic Sports Ethics: Professionalism in an Unestablished Industry
• Frank Serpico and NYPD
• FDA and the Emergency Use Authorization
• Greenwashing
• Greg Smith, Goldman Sachs and the New York Times
• Hillsborough Disaster
• Hugh Thompson, William Calley, and the My Lai Massacre
• Huy Fong Foods, Sriracha, and the City of Irwindale
• Jane Akre, Steve Wilson, and Posilac
• Jeffrey Sterling and Operation Merlin
• Joe Darby, Samuel Provance, and Abu Ghraib
• Joe Paterno and the Penn State Board of Trustees
• Joel Clement and the Department of the Interior
• Jordan Belfort and Stratton Oakmont
• Johnson & Johnson's Response to the 1982 Tylenol Poisonings
• Julia Bluhm, SPARK, and Seventeen Magazine
• Julia Davis and the Department of Homeland Security
• Justin Hopson and the Lords of Discipline
• Kennedy, Clinton, and Changing Norms of Journalism
• Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and a Culture of Cheating
• Lou van den Dries, George Orwell, and Mandatory Ethics Training
• The Mann Gulch Fire
• Marc Hauser and Research Fraud
• Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and EPA
• Michael de Guzman and the Bre-X Scandal
• Michael Mann, Ken Cuccinelli, and the Hockey Stick
• Michael Woodford and Olympus
• Operation Red Wings and the Rules of Engagement
• Oscar Pistorius and the Rise of the Iron Man Era
• The Over Prosecution of Kurt Mix
• The Swatting of Andrew Finch
• The Work Climate at Google
• Pamela Davis and Operation Board Games
• Perry Fellwock and the NSA
• Piper Alpha Oil Rig Disaster
• Professionalism in Social Media
• Professionalism in The Intern
• Sean Hoare and Andy Coulson
• Sherron Watkins and Enron
• Sign Stealing in Major League Baseball
• Robert MacLean and Unsecured TSA Communication
• The Sokal Affair
• Southwest Airlines Flight Cancellations of December 2022
• Stanford Research Scandal
• Startup Deception
• Susan Fowler, Uber, and Workplace Sexual Harassment
• The Case of Wisheart, Dhasmana, and Roylance
• The Durham Fish Oil Trials
• The Pat Tillman case
• Typhoid Mary
• Jose Rodriguez and the CIA Interrogation Tapes
• YouTube Censorship
• Dr. Malachi Love-Robinson
• Driving for Uber
• Who Is an Engineer? Burton Siegal and the State of Illinois
• Monsanto's Seed Patents
• Conflict of Interest Wikipedia Editing: Sunshine Sachs and Jack Craver
• The Case of Daphne Caruana Galizia
• Anarchist Cookbook
• The Sinking of the Titanic
• Vtubers and the Ethics of Synthetic Media
• Tim Bray, Maren Costa, Emily Cunningham, and Amazon
• Fraud in U.S. Collegiate Athetics
• The Hippocratic Oath for Technologists
• The Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder Case
• Avondale Mills, Norfolk Southern, and the E.P.A

Research Ethics

• Alexandra Elbakyan and Sci-Hub
• Scott Reuben and Research Fraud
• Shih Chi Liu and the NSF
• Climategate
• Albert Costa, Janet Geipel, Ethics, and Language
• Sabotage In Academia

Thinkers, Ideas and Problems

• Ethics and Autonomous AI
• The Dilbert Principle
• Office Ethics according to The Office
• Office Ethics according to Office Space
• E.F. Schumacher
• Ted Kaczynski
• Diffusion of Responsibility
• Irving Janis and Groupthink
• Bill Joy and Technological Risks
• Marketing of Pharmaceuticals
• Balancing Individual Rights vs Welfare of Society
• Pekka Himanen and The Hacker Ethic
• Hacktivism
• Nimbyism
• Valuing of Human Life in Risk Analysis
• The Precautionary Principle
• The IRS Whistleblowers Program
• Human subjects in clinical research
• Adderall in Academics
• Using Animals in Research
• James Shikwati and Aid to Africa
• Diane Vaughan and the normalization of deviance
• Defensive Medicine
• Drinking Culture in China
• Growth Hacking
• Moonlighting
• Corporate Psychopaths
• Salami Slicing and the Least Publishable Unit
• Stanford Prison Experiment
• Environmental Racism
• Restaurant Ethics according to Bob's Burgers
• Workplace Harassment Training
• Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy
• Ikigai at Work
• The Right to Be Forgotten
• Voluntourism
• Thomas H. Murray
• Market Influences on Clinical Trials
• Norbert Wiener and the Expert’s Responsibility for Weapons