STARTS:Written 2040 CDT, 10 Jul 09 but I'm not going to be the first to post...

Here's the unedited reponse.
Do you think this technique is moral or ethical or otherwise sound practice? Why or why not?
Marginally moral, not enough information to form a total moral evaluation. Regardless, it is not sound practice and I would not do it for the very practical reason that no one man is ever likely to be that importan as this action would almost certainly be disclosed. IOW, don't do it, probable result is not worth the potential downstream hassle.
Do you have an opinion on the legality of this technique (whether it is or should be legal, etc).
I do not think it should be illegal -- there are too many unenforceable laws about, we don't need one more. It should however IMO be discouraged or regulatorily prohibited for the reasons I stated above. If the punch line is what I suspect, I'll still go with the decision above. :ENDS