Scarce, in his effort not to circumvent the language of the Code of Ethics on rules regarding confidentiality, struggled to fight the legal system, and ultimately lost, and was forced to spend months in prison. In his article, Scarce argued that due to insufficient rules allowing researchers to adhere to the Code of Ethics in terms of protecting the confidentiality of research participants, and the fact that government institutions have the power to seize by subpoena the data collected from research participants. any study, that the second like the first endanger and call into question the way in which sociologists ethically practice research, while ensuring their protection, including the confidentiality of human subjects. Scares' Code of Ethics and Dilemma, including the possibility that other organizations outside of government could take advantage of sociologists' limited legal protection, underscore the relevance of the need for researchers to be aware of the potential legal ramifications of conducting sociological research. Ethnographic, interview, and participant observation methods assume the greatest risk in the current structure of the United States legal system.