1. An ethical issue that is effectively regulated by laws/regulations.
An ethical issue that is well regulated by laws and regulations is the issue of the employees’ usage of the Internet at the workplace. While accessing the World Wide Web through a firm’s private network, unethical conduct may occur, which is highly inappropriate in the workplace. To make the matters worse, certain employees’ actions are classified as unlawful. By distinguishing these cases, legal regulations help to regulate the Internet usage through company’s private networks and prevent cases of misconduct. This may happen in any area of business and virtually in any organization, with the private network, which us used by employees (Law Info, 2013).
2. An ethical issue that was ineffectively regulated by laws/regulations.
The example of an ethical issue that is ineffectively regulated by laws was lack of institutions full exposure for the risk they took before the debt bubble burst in 2007. Liberalized marketing practices, loose monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, and lack of complete exposure to the consequences of the excessive risk that would otherwise have not been taken, were addressed by Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010), however, the reforms suggested by the new act are too weak to provide necessary consumer protection and prevent moral hazard issues, when banks that are caught with bad loans are bailed out by IMF of Federal Reserve (Liu, 2013).
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3. An ethical issue for which laws/regulations have created unintended consequences.
When in 1990 safety helmets were made mandatory for all cyclists in Victoria, Australia, it led to a few unintended consequences. As expected, the number of head injuries decreased. However, the number of serious injuries as well as deaths increased (that could be explained by the risk compensation factor) (Robinson, 2012). The number of juvenile cyclists decreased, too. That was explained by the fact that young people thought of wearing the helmets as out of fashion. Respectively, the health of youth deteriorated.
4. An ethical issue that perhaps can never be effectively addressed by law/regulation.
This may be the issue of Internet security. For example, the software infringement issue can hardly be regulated by laws due to the specifics of the approach to this issue in different cultures. What is thought unethical by North Americans, who restrict copy of intellectual property, is not thought unethical by representatives of many Asian cultures, where the notion of collective ownership is strong. Thus, in those parts of the world the regulation of this issue will hardly be effective (“Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues in Information Security”, n.d.).
- “Legal, ethical, and professional issues in information security” (n.d.). Retrieved 23 September 2013 from http://www.cengage.com
- Law Info (2013). Using your computer at work: your rights as an employee. Retrieved 23 September 2013 from http://resources.lawinfo.com
- Liu, H. (2013). Weak political response to ineffective financial regulation. Retrieved 23
September 2013 from http://henryckliu.com - Robinson, D. Head injuries and helmet laws in Australia and New Zealand. Retrieved 23
September 2013 from http://cyclehelmets.org
