Technically True But Misleading Statement Prohibition Violated By Engineer A
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/127#Technically_True_But_Misleading_Statement_Prohibition_Violated_By_Engineer_A
Properties
Instance of
TechnicallyTrueButMisleadingStatementProhibition
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#TechnicallyTrueButMisleadingStatementProhibition
Applied to
Firm X Clients Engineering Services Client Targeted by Competitor Disparagement
Balancing with
Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition
Concrete expression
Engineer A's representation that Firm X would be 'hard pressed' to perform because Engineer C was leaving may have been technically grounded in a true fact (Engineer C's anticipated departure) but was crafted to create a false overall impression — that Firm X was objectively incapable — while omitting that Engineer A himself was the cause of the departure and that Firm X's actual capacity was unknown to Engineer A
Confidence
0.88
Importance
high
Interpretation
The ethical standard is not whether individual facts cited are true but whether the overall impression conveyed is accurate; Engineer A's selective framing created a materially false impression of Firm X's incapacity
Invoked by
Engineer B Incumbent Firm Principal Discovering Competitor Misconduct
Tension resolution
Even if Engineer C's departure was a true anticipated fact, using it to imply Firm X's general incapacity without full context violates the prohibition on technically-true-but-misleading statements
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A has contacted Firm X's clients and is making representations that because Engineer C is going to be leaving Firm X to work for Firm Y, Firm X will be 'hard pressed' to perform successfully on its projects and that Firm X's clients should hire Firm Y to perform engineering services.
Text references
Engineer A has contacted Firm X's clients and is making representations that because Engineer C is going to be leaving Firm X to work for Firm Y, Firm X will be 'hard pressed' to perform successfully on its projects
TTL
@prefix case127: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/127#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case127:Technically_True_But_Misleading_Statement_Prohibition_Violated_By_Engineer_A a proeth:TechnicallyTrueButMisleadingStatementProhibition,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Technically True But Misleading Statement Prohibition Violated By Engineer A" ;
proeth:appliedto "Firm X Clients Engineering Services Client Targeted by Competitor Disparagement" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Free and Open Competition as Engineering Ethics Boundary Condition" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's representation that Firm X would be 'hard pressed' to perform because Engineer C was leaving may have been technically grounded in a true fact (Engineer C's anticipated departure) but was crafted to create a false overall impression — that Firm X was objectively incapable — while omitting that Engineer A himself was the cause of the departure and that Firm X's actual capacity was unknown to Engineer A" ;
proeth:confidence "0.88" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "127" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "127" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The ethical standard is not whether individual facts cited are true but whether the overall impression conveyed is accurate; Engineer A's selective framing created a materially false impression of Firm X's incapacity" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer B Incumbent Firm Principal Discovering Competitor Misconduct" ;
proeth:principleclass "Technically True But Misleading Statement Prohibition" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A has contacted Firm X's clients and is making representations that because Engineer C is going to be leaving Firm X to work for Firm Y, Firm X will be 'hard pressed' to perform successfully on its projects and that Firm X's clients should hire Firm Y to perform engineering services." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Even if Engineer C's departure was a true anticipated fact, using it to imply Firm X's general incapacity without full context violates the prohibition on technically-true-but-misleading statements" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A has contacted Firm X's clients and is making representations that because Engineer C is going to be leaving Firm X to work for Firm Y, Firm X will be 'hard pressed' to perform successfully on its projects" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 127 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T03:44:36.617839"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 127 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
127
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00
First case
127
Generated
2026-03-01T03:14:48.554502+00:00
Attributed to
Case 127 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T03:44:36.617839
Generated by
ProEthica Case 127 Extraction