6.1 An engineer leaves a company and goes to work for a competitor. (a) Is it ethical for the engineer to try to lure customers away from the previ- ous employer? (b) Is it alright for the engineer to use proprietary knowledge gained while working for the previous employer at the new job? How would the answe to this question change if the new job weren't for a competitor? (c) At the new job, is it acceptable for the engineer to use skills developed dur- ing his previous employment? 6.2 If you are an engineer working for a state highway department with the respon- sibility for overseeing and regulating construction companies that work for the state, is it a conflict of interest to leave the state and accept a position with a construction company that you formerly regulated as a government relations manager? Is the opposite acceptable: leaving a private company to take a posi- tion in government regulating that company? How about if you have substantial stock in the company in a pension or other plan? 6.3 You are an engineer who has taken a new job with a competitor of your previ- ous company. At a meeting you attend, a research engineer describes her plans for developing a new product similar to one developed by your former company. You know that the direction this engineer is taking will be a dead end and will cost the company a lot of time and money. Do you tell her what you know? Does the answer to this question change if the new company is not a direct competitor of the previous one? 6.4 You are a civil engineer working for an engineering consulting firm and have just finished work on a new bridge project. This project involved some innovative designs developed by you and other engineers in the firm. You have decided that you now have enough experience to start your own consulting firm. The first project that comes to you is a bridge. Can you use the innovation pioneered at your previous firm in this new design? How does this situation differ from that in Question 3?