And there should be rewards for good things, too. Mr. Weber said new technology is also opening up new ethical concerns. Web sites, for example, can track users and their buying and surfing habits. Business people have to examine what kind of information they should be collecting, what they should be selling, and how much the consumer knows is being collected about them. Mr. Weber said e-commerce firms should show consumers their privacy policies and make users aware of what information is being collected.
Technology also raises ethics questions when it comes to monitoring one's own employees.
Every time an employee uses an employer's computer to send an e-mail or log onto a Web site, that information can be, and often is, recorded, he said. Companies need to decide what is appropriate use of its computers. Additionally, one person's idea of a joke, may not have a universal interpretation. Mr. Weber said. The answer legally is yes, but ethically it's a question.