Not knowing the exact details and the guidelines in which he conducts these surveys makes it hard to determine if these names should or should not be sold. If John conducts these surveys under the confidentiality that the information he gathers will not be shared with outside parties, then absolutely he should not. An example of this from the AMA's statement of ethics is mentioned under the terms of fairness. Under these terms it states that a professional organization should avoid knowingly participating in conflicts of interest, and should seek to protect private information of customers, employees, and partners. For John to sell this information would be to betray the trust of his customers and in turn create a conflict of interest. John would neglect the agreement he made with his customers to better himself and his company.
On the flip side if John were allowed to sell this information he could actually use it to help out his customer base. The AMA's statement of ethics mentions responsibility and as part of responsibility a professional organization must strive to serve the needs of customers. John is selling information about people who are likely, or very likely to purchase cars; he is not necessarily troubling people who have no intentions of purchasing cars. Having a car dealership contact these customers may actually be a step in the right direction to get them started in purchasing a car where as maybe before they didn't know how to go about this.
Can you think of any terms under the AMA's statement of ethics that could apply from the perspective of John's employees, or his customers?
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