Business Ethics 6 assignment
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DiscussionAnalysisweek6.docxWeek 6 Discussion Hernan
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Google Case Study
Google is ubiquitous in today’s world. It seems that I use google every day in my life, either for work or for personal use. Any time I don’t know anything I google it, no matter what it is. I can’t even fathom even using another search engine, it’s as if there isn’t another search engine on the market. In my life and in the majority of the American population Google holds a monopoly with its search engine.
This case study mentions the issues that Google has been having because of users privacy. They haven’t been doing a good job in protecting the privacy of its users since the beginning. Every company has to make a profit in order to stay operational. Google makes money with its ad services. The user gets a free service that is paid by business that pay to pop up in searches and ad banners. Just imagine if it was a pay per use service where you were charged every time you used it to search for something online? I wonder if they didn’t need businesses ad money and relied on users paying for the service? Would they track user data like they do now and if they didn’t would they still have the privacy concerns they have? Don’t get me wrong I love Google’s products, however I don’t like how they use my data. I don’t want companies to have my personal information if I don’t give it to them. I think Google needs to make it easier for users to block their data tracking. However, Google knows what you are searching and “If you are logged in, Google can track searches even from different computers, and while Google now claims to anonymize IP addresses in server logs after 9 months, for logged-in users it retains search queries for as far back as you want.” Notess et al (2009)
Some governments are pushing for Google to change their habits if they want to continue doing business in their countries, an example is certain European countries. “Corporations worldwide have become more global in their compliance actions.” Ferrell et al (2018) How does Google balance this in each country? Do they have one world wide ethics view or do they change there approach to every country? I’m surprised how long Google has been the number one search engine. Eventually there will be another company that is going to take their spot unless they fix their privacy issues. They have a motto of “Don’t be evil” I just wish they would follow it.
References
Notess, Greg R. "Privacy in the age of the social web." Online, vol. 33, no. 4, July-Aug. 2009, pp. 41+. Gale In Context: College, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A203232281/GPS?u=kan38982&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=4e359696. Accessed 20 Feb. 2022.
Ferrell, L, Ferrell, O.C., & Fraedrich, J. (2018). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (12th ed.). Cengage.
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week 6 discussion Eric Riggs
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There are many things I go back and forth on with it comes to my own personal privacy online and where I draw the line for myself, but now I also have to start thinking about where that line is for my children as they start to grow up in an environment where everything is online and everything is tracked. Do I want them to grow up where they have to worry about what was put up about them or by them when they were not the same person just a few years later because they said something in middle school that college them or adult them will be ashamed of? For these reasons, part of me is very much a supporter of the "User’s Bill of Rights and a mandatory Do Not Track mechanism" (Ferrell, 2018). I also understand their business model is dependent on the sales of targeted advertising since their base model for business was never to actually sell anything, but only to provide a service of convenience that seems to have ballooned into a global empire. I think that if the community as a whole decides that the "Do Not Track mechanism" is the correct way to go, their company will not fold at this point it will just adapt. Not tracking every pixel of data that comes through does not mean that they cannot advertise to the community as a whole. they just may be less targeted in their approach and that may not be a bad thing. I am becoming more of a user of google docs here recently and the ease of use of google products as a whole is impressive. I do want them to continue to improve as a company and grow their profits but evolution may be necessary to avoid becoming a dealer in private data.
Ferrell, L, Ferrell, O.C., & Fraedrich, J. (2018). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (12th ed.). Cengage.
W6 Discussion - Google
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Hey all and I hope your week is going well!
From our case study, it was evident that Google's choice to increase their use of lobbyists helped to save the company's position on most of the issues facing their company, whether it be regarding privacy barriers or others. Many companies are observed to have lobbyists to make sure that the company's position can be solidified and improved, instead of halted by legislation and opposition within governments, be it state or federal. These lobbyists attach to those that factor heavily into creating legislation, of which may create barriers for Google, so that the company can keep striving towards their goals and further innovation(s). In regard to lobbyists and lobbying, a Bloomberg (Banares, 2021) article stated that Google had recently beefed up their lobbyists and lobbying to fend off politicians from fighting Google's attempt(s) at being competitive. The realistic point that the article made, was that Google and Amazon are very big competitors in their respective market(s) and many politicians don't enjoy seeing two big giants battling constantly, where there should be more opportunity for smaller companies to succeed. Google, through its use of their own lobbyists, is doing its best to play into the government's decisions to prevent them from being competitive. It was cited within the aforementioned article, that the U.S. Justice Department had recently just sued Google over its abuse of the digital marketing market, where Google is seen as the clear champion of that market. Within the same article, congresswoman Klobuchar was quoted as stating that capitalism requires great competition within Google's market. In regard to what the congresswoman stated, Google is being competitive by using its position to stay atop its market. What combats Google is innovation and that same innovating company to give digital marketing consumers something that Google hasn't. From my standpoint, the government doesn't understand that, sure capitalism requires competition no matter how stiff, but innovation plays a key part in competition. If small businesses aren't striving to innovate in ways Google can't, competition from the smaller companies will be nearly unseen from Google's standpoint. The next issue is that Google can easily buy out competition if they innovate in a way Google cannot. If you don't know, the government can take time to review those bigger buyouts, as Google is a company that can easily monopolize their digital advertising market. Governments will review any buyout that makes Google any closer to monopolizing their market, so that competition can still occur within that same market. Walmart, Amazon, and other big-name companies are reviewed in the same way(s) when buyouts or mergers occur, to make sure that smaller businesses have more of a chance to compete.Company lobbyists, like those at Google, will be the big players that create more room for those buyouts to close or be approved, as those lobbyists will make sure that the right people know what they need to know about why the buyout needs to happen.
As lobbyists play a very large part in the business world, especially when barriers may prevent a company from reaching goals or succeeding, what is your position on how lobbyists can change the way the government sees businesses and their operations? Should there be more oversight on lobbying and lobbyists, so that unethical practices can be prevented, potentially creating room for a business to wrongfully take advantage of their market? What are your thoughts?
Thank you all!
References
Banares, I. (2021, April 23). Google, amazon spent millions lobbying while facing bipartisan Scrutiny. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/google-amazon-spent-millions-lobbying-amid-bipartisan-scrutiny
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