Engineer A Confidentiality Scope Limitation Public Danger Disclosure
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/181#Engineer_A_Confidentiality_Scope_Limitation_Public_Danger_Disclosure
Properties
Instance of
ConfidentialityScopeLimitationforPublicDangerDisclosureObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConfidentialityScopeLimitationforPublicDangerDisclosureObligation
Case context
Engineer A's confidentiality agreement with Engineer B's firm is in tension with the duty to report safety code violations; Engineer A must recognize the scope limitation of the confidentiality obligation.
Compliance status
unclear
Confidence
0.92
Importance
high
Obligated party
Engineer A
Obligation statement
Engineer A was obligated to recognize that the confidentiality agreement's scope does not extend to bar disclosure of Engineer B's safety code violations to appropriate authorities, because the confidentiality obligation protects business affairs and technical processes but does not cover public danger disclosures required by the paramount duty to protect public health and safety.
Temporal scope
Upon discovery of potential safety code violations that endanger public health and welfare
Relationships
Source Evidence
Source text
On the one hand, the engineer has an obligation not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs or technical processes of any present or former client without their consent.
Text references
On the one hand, the engineer has an obligation not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs or technical processes of any present or former client without their consent.
While confidentiality is an important ethical value, as a licensed professional engineer, Engineer A's paramount responsibility is to protect the public health and safety.
TTL
@prefix case181: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/181#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@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#> .
case181:Engineer_A_Confidentiality_Scope_Limitation_Public_Danger_Disclosure a proeth:ConfidentialityScopeLimitationforPublicDangerDisclosureObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A Confidentiality Scope Limitation Public Danger Disclosure" ;
proeth-core:defeasibleUnder <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/181#Engineer_A_Competing_Duties_—_Confidentiality_vs._Safety_Reporting> ;
proeth:casecontext "Engineer A's confidentiality agreement with Engineer B's firm is in tension with the duty to report safety code violations; Engineer A must recognize the scope limitation of the confidentiality obligation." ;
proeth:compliancestatus "unclear" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.92" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple case181:Confidentiality_Non-Applicability_To_Engineer_B_Safety_Code_Violations,
case181:Confidentiality_Non-Applicability_to_Public_Danger_Disclosure_Invoked_Against_Peer_Review_Confidentiality_Agreement ;
proeth:discoveredincase "181" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T09:16:49.632159+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "181" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T09:16:49.632159+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:obligatedparty "Engineer A" ;
proeth:obligationclass "Confidentiality Scope Limitation for Public Danger Disclosure Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationstatement "Engineer A was obligated to recognize that the confidentiality agreement's scope does not extend to bar disclosure of Engineer B's safety code violations to appropriate authorities, because the confidentiality obligation protects business affairs and technical processes but does not cover public danger disclosures required by the paramount duty to protect public health and safety." ;
proeth:sourcetext "On the one hand, the engineer has an obligation not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs or technical processes of any present or former client without their consent." ;
proeth:temporalscope "Upon discovery of potential safety code violations that endanger public health and welfare" ;
proeth:textreferences "On the one hand, the engineer has an obligation not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs or technical processes of any present or former client without their consent.",
"While confidentiality is an important ethical value, as a licensed professional engineer, Engineer A's paramount responsibility is to protect the public health and safety." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 181 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T09:25:33.360420"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 181 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
181
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T09:16:49.632159+00:00
First case
181
Generated
2026-03-01T09:16:49.632159+00:00
Attributed to
Case 181 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T09:25:33.360420
Generated by
ProEthica Case 181 Extraction