That is fascinating; I am honestly curious whether these are personal, ethical, or cultural differences (or all of the above).
* On one hand, I originally hail from a country where majority of population would have absolutely agreed with this - it "doesn't hurt anyone", it's fine, everybody does it. It's also, related or not, one of the countries where people will judge you negatively if you pay your taxes ("what are you, a schmuck??"), if you don't haggle, etc. It's a hard country in hard times and you're expected to do whatever it takes for yourself to come ahead.
* On the other hand, I've been living in Canada for 20+ years (not the least because the culture and ethical framework work for me:), and while absolutely definitely "shady stuff happens in unseen corners" and not everybody or every org is honest, on average, I could get a whole chain of workers and management fired if I brought something like this to light. Certainly, the average person in average situation would indicate this is unethical, it directly hurts the people potentially hiring you (as they're literally not getting good as advertised), it indirectly hurts your own company (through reputation etc) and market at large (through inflated requirements and misaligned expectations). It's effectively lying for personal gain. It's wrong. And most people have the luxury of treating it as such.
But I also know, as per #1, places where it's just how business is done... :-/
* On one hand, I originally hail from a country where majority of population would have absolutely agreed with this - it "doesn't hurt anyone", it's fine, everybody does it. It's also, related or not, one of the countries where people will judge you negatively if you pay your taxes ("what are you, a schmuck??"), if you don't haggle, etc. It's a hard country in hard times and you're expected to do whatever it takes for yourself to come ahead.
* On the other hand, I've been living in Canada for 20+ years (not the least because the culture and ethical framework work for me:), and while absolutely definitely "shady stuff happens in unseen corners" and not everybody or every org is honest, on average, I could get a whole chain of workers and management fired if I brought something like this to light. Certainly, the average person in average situation would indicate this is unethical, it directly hurts the people potentially hiring you (as they're literally not getting good as advertised), it indirectly hurts your own company (through reputation etc) and market at large (through inflated requirements and misaligned expectations). It's effectively lying for personal gain. It's wrong. And most people have the luxury of treating it as such. But I also know, as per #1, places where it's just how business is done... :-/