Playboy recently launched a new "office-safe" Web site, TheSmokingJacket.com, designed to entertain the magazine's core readership, males between the ages of twenty five and thirty-four, as they goof off on the job. Hiding its true origin, the new Web site expressly wishes to reach bored men at work. Instead of nudity, it offers humor and related "cool" content. The lead producer of the stealth Playboy clone, Matt Gibbs, seems to have no qualms about tricking company firewalls: "The ideal is to be . . . the go-to site for those who are bored at work." Analyze the ethics of
(a) Launching a Web site that deliberately targets office workers while they are on the job and
(b) Web surfing while being paid to work. Could an argument be made for limited surfing that most would consider harmless? Under what circumstances and rules? What are the dangers of engaging in such behavior at work?