Three Years of Hell to Become the Devil: Ethics Question

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Ethics Question

I've been asked by a surveying company to put a link to a survey regarding legal recruiting, with the idea that anyone who fills out the survey would may get some small compensation, and I'd get a cut as well.

Oddly, if someone had just sent me an email saying, "We've got an online survey for law students to fill out," I'd probably put a link up. But someone being willing to pay me for a link seems strange. I couldn't give you a good argument why it worries me, but it does. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Should I post it? Would anyone want to fill it out anyway?

Posted by Anthony on April 21, 2005 5:10 PM | Permalink

Comments

If you want to post it, feel free, as you should not feel restrained to make a buck or two. However, I admit I share your skepticism. If this company is willing to offer compensation for these surveys, they're getting the money somewhere. In this day in age, it is most likely from selling the personal information we will undoubtedly be required to submit in order to receive said compensation. As your classmate and friend, I admit I would probably not fill this survey out.

Posted by: Anonymous | April 21, 2005 7:11 PM

Don't be squeamish. Get that paper, Tony.

Posted by: Tony the Pony | April 22, 2005 11:58 AM

Interesting - somebody called me this morning about this survey, got my email and emailed me the link. I have no idea where they got my work phone number from, btw. Anyway, I went to fill the survey out, only to be told that they had all the 3Ls they needed and no survey love for me. The whole thing seemed vaguely odd.

Posted by: Richard Campbell | April 22, 2005 1:19 PM

I got the same email (probably it's the same one, anyway). I don't care about the money as an ethical thing (if you disclose that you might get paid for posting the link, where's the ethical problem?), but I agree w/Anonymous that the money has to be coming from somewhere and I don't think that's something I want to support. If the money doesn't come from sales of personal information, it sounds like it may come from big firms trying to improve their ability to suck up the best talent from American law schools. Helping with that project in any way is about the last thing I'd want to do, regardless of how much they offered to pay.

Posted by: ambimb | April 23, 2005 8:43 AM

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