PrepTest 153, Section 2, Question 6
Principle: If someone makes an error, it is(33 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(12 more words not shown)
- AMark had the(19 more words not shown)
- BA coworker of(15 more words not shown)
- CRashmi offered to(15 more words not shown)
- DMark had access(24 more words not shown)
- EMark happened upon(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How did Mark get the email addresses?
The principle does not say that every use of a coworker's client information is unethical. It says that taking advantage of someone's error is unethical. We have the advantage: Mark advanced his career. We still need the error that made this possible.
Suppose Mark went through Rashmi's email while she was in the bathroom. That might raise plenty of concerns, but it would not automatically show that someone made the kind of mistake described by this principle. We cannot fill in that missing event just because we disapprove of what Mark did.
What we’re looking for
To justify this particular application, I'd look for an accidental disclosure or some other mistake that Mark exploited.
Working the answers
- A
Copying the addresses while Rashmi was at lunch tells us how Mark obtained them, but it does not establish an error that he exploited. Going to lunch is not itself a mistake. This might support criticism of Mark under some other rule, but we need the specific condition in the rule we were given.
- B
Another coworker shared the addresses. Did that coworker mistakenly disclose them, or knowingly offer information that could be shared? We don't know. The principle could apply to an error by someone other than Rashmi, but B does not establish an error by anyone.
- C
Rashmi intentionally offered to help Mark. Using information she deliberately shared for that purpose is different from taking advantage of her mistake. C supplies permission and assistance, not the missing error.
- DCorrect
Rashmi accidentally exposed the addresses, and that accident is the only reason Mark had access to them. Imagine putting clients in the visible recipient field of a group email when you meant to hide their addresses. A coworker can now see information you did not intend to reveal.
Mark then uses that accidental disclosure to advance his own career. We can now connect every part of the rule: someone makes an error, a coworker uses it, and the coworker gains an advantage. That is why the principle supports calling this action unethical.
- E
Finding a list during market research does not establish that anyone made a mistake. The information could have been intentionally made public. Mark's benefit alone is not enough; the principle concerns a benefit gained by exploiting an error.
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