their crimes is not only for the betterment of the community, but will also lead to less crime long-term. Therefore, under my own personal ethical framework using stingrays is ethical because although the government is probably accumulating a lot of data on bystanders and criminals in general, for the greater good and long-term effects privacy sometimes needs to be sacrificed.
Under Rule Utilitarianism, the proposed universal rule is that Stingrays are technology that both local and federal government should be able to use to track down criminals. The good of following this universal rule would result in arrests of criminals, like the 697 made of 1,025 times the stingrays were used in New York since 2008, positively benefiting the community as a whole. However, the actors being negatively affected by this rule are innocent bystander’s privacy, because stingray usage is picking up their cellphone data. The good of arresting criminals (697 arrests made in New York since 2008) and positively impacting the community outweighs the innocent bystanders data possibly being retained in the long-term, since there are no records…show more content… This presents another ethical issues on law enforcements side, who may know that these devices aren’t necessary being used in the right manor, but contractually can’t say anything about it. Although overall, the main issue concerns the privacy of the public regarding their cellphone data. While bystanders may be giving up some privacy rights, there is no denying that the use of these devices has led to a significant number of arrests. Thus, in order for the community to receive the social benefits of the device, such as arresting dangerous criminals, they must deal with the burdens, which are losing privacy rights and unclear knowledge to where their data is
