A Morality Poll
I posted a series of questions a couple of days ago during a discussion of intellectual property rights and piracy sites. I’ve refined those questions a bit and am turning it into a public poll for you to respond to. Please feel free to add comments if you wish to elaborate on your answers.
In all poll questions, assume that you are unsupervised and that the risk of being caught is very low.
wrapper wrote:
Okay, I’m going back and forth on the book thing. I’d “borrow” it to read it, then get rid of it, so if that’s considered “keeping” it, then I’d be guilty. This, by the way, does happen all the time.
For the first question, I’d be to afraid to get caught & lose my job, even if there were “no chance” of getting caught. Ummm that probably doesn’t make sense….
Posted on 27-Sep-02 at 6:28 am | Permalink
wibbble wrote:
I agree with you on the book thing. If I liked the book, I’d also be likely to buy a proper copy, too.
Posted on 27-Sep-02 at 6:56 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
The book question is a tough one for a lot of people, but it’s not so tough for me.
Returning paperback covers and keeping copies (or worse, selling them) hurts the author– usually someone who is not in a financial position to absorb many returns (or the higher reserve-against-returns rate they’ll get on their next book as a result). It’s a dishonest way to read a book. If you want to read it, buy it, borrow it from a friend, or check it out of a library. In all three of those scenarios, the author was paid for the copy of the book that you read.
I know this happens all the time. That’s why people balk at this question so much. Because it seems like something that they would do, something that wouldn’t be so bad, necessarily.
But think about this: just because something is done all the time doesn’t make it right. A lot of things are done that aren’t the right thing to do. That’s why this is a morality quiz– I tried to stay away from behavior questions of what you have done (with the exception of the drive-in movie one), and more with the “what would you do. . .” kind of phrasing. Because these are questions of what a person believes is the right answer to a moral dilemma, not questions of what people actually do or how people behave (which may frequently go against their own moral codes).
Posted on 01-Oct-02 at 5:10 am | Permalink