A key
issue in ethics for today’s mechanical engineers is reverse engineering. This
is the process of taking apart a product, figuring out how each mechanism works,
finding improvements, and adding them to your own product. The goal of reverse
engineering is to make a very similar product but with minor changes or
improvements. These changes can make the product cheaper so you can compete with
the previous product or expand the market to new consumers with added features.
Reverse
Engineering can be very good for today’s technologically based market. It
allows other companies the chance to build their own product to compete with a
comparable price, quality, and design. This leads to more products on the
market and more opportunities for us consumers to decide which product is best.
This prevents monopolization of a product and consumers facing very high
prices. A good example would be the new curved TVs. There are only a few
products on the market so prices are extremely high and choices are limited. In
the next few years, many of the big TV manufacturers will release their version
of the curved TV and the prices will significantly drop. Companies will also
release different sized models to help fit the consumer needs because not
everyone wants or can afford a 70” TV. It wouldn't hurt the first company much
because it can take anywhere from a few months to many years for competitors to
design their product. This would give them a head start on sales and allow them
to sell at fairly high prices.
When a
product is in the process of being reverse engineered, they might find design
flaws or safety concerns with the original. A common area for reverse
engineering is in computer programming. Developers will look at another programmer’s
codes and rewrite their own in a different way. They can also check the code
for security issues like hidden viruses or password stealing programs. Reverse
Engineering has also been widely used in the military. Countries at war will
try to get a hold of the other nation’s technology and reverse engineer it.
This allows them to figure out how it works and either design something to
prevent it, or design a similar or better weapon to use back. If we didn't
reverse engineer other countries weapons, we would find ourselves on the losing
side of many wars to come.
Reverse
engineering can be done without infringing on intellectual property. By
slightly changing the product and adding different features, the newly
engineered product will avoid copyrights and patents. This is usually done by a
process called clean-room engineering. A group of engineers will take apart the
product and write down key features and functions. Then the observations will
be given to another group of engineers, who've never seen the product before,
and they will design another one to achieve the same purpose. It is a safe way
to avoid copyrights as long as the same product isn't rebuilt.
Reverse
engineering is necessary for our country because it provides product variety to
consumers, keeps us safe, and avoids infringing on intellectual property. Imagine
if you had to drive the same type of car as everyone else, use the same phone,
and wear the same brand of shoes. There would be little variation in the products,
and everything would be extremely expensive for us. With reverse engineering, we
the consumers can buy the best product for us with the design and style we
want. This way, companies are competing for our business and not making us
overpay for their product.
