Should Justin Ellsworth's Parents Have Been Given Access to His Email?
Should Justin Ellsworth's Parents have been given access to his email?
Table of Contents
Pg. 3 Introduction
Pg. 3 Utilitarian
Pg. 4 Deontological
Pg. 5 Yahoo’s Stance and overall outcome
Pg. 5 Conclusion
Pg. 6 References
The question was posed; Should Justin Ellsworth's Parents have been given access to his email? Justin Ellsworth was a US Marine killed in Iraq. After his death, his parents wanted access to his emails. Yahoo, his email service provided declined their request stating that their privacy policy prohibited them from disclosing the contents of his email to anyone. Now I was asked to review this from a utilitarian and deontological view. Utilitarian Utilitarian ethics is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all sentient beings. In laymen’s terms it means that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome or the greater good for the greatest amount of people. When I was doing my research into utilitarian ethics, I discovered there are many different types of utilitarian ethics, rule utilitarianism, act utilitarianism, two-level utilitarianism, motive utilitarianism, negative utilitarianism, average utilitarianism, and total utilitarianism. Although there are a lot of different types of utilitarian ethics, I will look at this problem using rule and act utilitarian. Act utilitarianism states that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate most pleasure. On the other hand rule utilitarian, one begins by looking at potential rules of action. To determine whether a rule should be followed, one looks at what would happen if it were constantly followed. If adherence to the rule produces more happiness than otherwise, it is a rule that morally must be followed at all times. With these two types of
Table of Contents
Pg. 3 Introduction
Pg. 3 Utilitarian
Pg. 4 Deontological
Pg. 5 Yahoo’s Stance and overall outcome
Pg. 5 Conclusion
Pg. 6 References
The question was posed; Should Justin Ellsworth's Parents have been given access to his email? Justin Ellsworth was a US Marine killed in Iraq. After his death, his parents wanted access to his emails. Yahoo, his email service provided declined their request stating that their privacy policy prohibited them from disclosing the contents of his email to anyone. Now I was asked to review this from a utilitarian and deontological view. Utilitarian Utilitarian ethics is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all sentient beings. In laymen’s terms it means that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome or the greater good for the greatest amount of people. When I was doing my research into utilitarian ethics, I discovered there are many different types of utilitarian ethics, rule utilitarianism, act utilitarianism, two-level utilitarianism, motive utilitarianism, negative utilitarianism, average utilitarianism, and total utilitarianism. Although there are a lot of different types of utilitarian ethics, I will look at this problem using rule and act utilitarian. Act utilitarianism states that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate most pleasure. On the other hand rule utilitarian, one begins by looking at potential rules of action. To determine whether a rule should be followed, one looks at what would happen if it were constantly followed. If adherence to the rule produces more happiness than otherwise, it is a rule that morally must be followed at all times. With these two types of
References: Wikipedia Article on Utilitarianism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism Wikipedia Article on Deontological ethics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deontological_ethics USA Today Article, Yahoo will give family slain Marine 's e-mail account. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-04-21-marine-e-mail_x.htm?POE=TECISVA