The concept of utilitarianism can create controversy in the engineering field. These issues are highlighted when talking about big data collection. On one hand utilitarianism can be used to prevent potential dangers, but on the other hand it can be seen as an invasion of privacy. When discussing utilitarianism, it is important to first gain a complete understanding of the term. Utilitarianism is the ethical belief that one 's actions should have the intention of promoting the largest amount of happiness for the largest number of people. In a sense, this means that the most ethical thing to do is what will benefit the majority of people. This plays a major role when debating the ethicality of big data collection. Some may argue that the collection of big data has the potential to benefit large amounts of people, while others argue that it is an invasion of privacy and has no benefit. Either way, big data collection is a major concept in the engineering field and relies heavily on the idea of utilitarianism. One instance of big data collection is the collection and monitoring of internet search history …show more content…
By monitoring a suspect 's internet searchers, the government may find clues as to whether of not the suspect actually committed the crime. This idea also is heavily connected to utilitarianism. By collecting the internet search history of a suspect of a crime, information could potentially be found resulting in the prosecution of the suspect. By proving that the suspects are guiltily, that would make communities safer. The public could greatly benefit from safer communities. Because a great deal of people can benefit from the collection of internet search history, many people point to utilitarianism and argue that the practice of monitoring search history is ethical and support the idea of the United Sates monitoring search