I'm not sure forced attendance in an ethics course has as much of an effect as you would like it to.

Reading comprehension is important; in this case the word course relates to the path these folks took in their career.

And yes, mandatory ethics courses are an important part of helping people to understand the difference between unethical and ethical behaviour, especially if they can't or didn't learn that on their own. It's why ethics training is both offered and required in many professional roles.

> compromise their ethics

They're spying or supporting those doing spying, right?

Maybe they're even smart enough to understand sarcasm.

Smart people don't use force to get paid. They usually obtain a pay rise through offering a better product,not through extortion scams (public sector workers striking).

They are allowed to bargain, or negotiate what ever you want to call it, this is a fair tool. A major problem is that these agencies aren't paying what top talent requires. So people are underpaid and also, other people that could do really important work go else where and use their intelligence on advertising.

> ethics

Debatable.