Google’s Dilemma in China:
Google is the largest search engine across the globe, which has significantly transformed the use of the Internet as an information source. The influence of Google in Internet use as information source is evident in the fact that by June 2010, it accounted for more than 70 percent of total Internet searches in America. In addition to its success and profitability in the global market, Google is renowned as a highly ethical company as demonstrated in its corporate philosophy features. However, the firm’s behavior during the launch of its China-based search engine in 2006 generated huge skepticism from the United States government and several human rights organizations (Baker & Tang, p.2). Since the launch of Google’s Chinese search engine, the company complied with China’s censorship regulations by deciding to filter out terms that are considered politically sensitive. This decision attracted criticism from political leaders and human rights activists who accused Google of betraying its adopted ethical standards by ignoring the essence of freedom of expression and information access. As a result, Google faced a dilemma involving the clash between law and ethics. In the subsequent years, Google reacted to the dilemma by changing its rhetoric strategies in efforts to respond to the changing needs.
Goal of this Analysis:
This paper focuses on examining Google’s dilemma in light of the challenge it faced when its compliance with the law contributed to several ethical concerns. This analysis examines whether Google made the right choice to launch the Chinese search engine and censor search results and whether its rhetoric on ethics, human rights, and business changed with time. The other issues exam...
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...al because it enable them to access information easily and avoid the substantial quality problems associated with using Google.com.
In conclusion, companies that seek to integrate into global markets usually encounter several problems because of the effect of globalization on business practices. The challenges originating from such integration is attributed to the differences in cultures in various societies across the globe. As evident in Google’s dilemma in China, there is no single set of universal ethics that are applicable to all settings and societies across the globe. Companies such as Google need to develop varying ethical standards that are relevant and appropriate to various nations and cultures in the world. This would enable the companies that are integrating into global markets to avoid ethical issues while maintaining effective business practices.
When travelling for business between different countries it’s very important to understand the different ethical practices. When looking into the different ethical business practices in organizations we will look at the four largest and fastest developing countries which are commonly known as BRIC; Brazil, Russia, India, and China. There are many similarities between these countries; however India and Brazil seem to have a more favorable ethics rating than China and Russia. While there are similar perceptions on ethical business practices, these ideas are not shared globally. As these four countries grow economically, it’s becoming more important for business leaders to understand their ethical differences.
4deterioration of memory. Even Socrates came to the conclusion that as we would “cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful.” (Carr 2008, p.326) Even though Socrates was not directing this thought towards computers and Google specifically, little did he know that this would occur to our own generations. Nowadays everyone believes “...that our minds should operate as high-speed data-processing machines...” (Carr 2008, p.325) A study that occurred at George Mason University stated that the adult mind can be seen as plastic. It is stated that “Nerve cells routinely break old connections and form new ones.” (Carr 2008, p.319) The brain is able to reprogram itself in different situations. Since our society is constantly plugged in and online, this proves that our brain is always processing and then storing the things we see and read on our screens. But, as we continue to take in new information it becomes more difficult to retrieve the old information. Carr centers his article around Google and the advancements they have created within the company. Cade Metz argues in article on the Google Search Engine that, “In some cases, they can learn a task so well that they outperform humans.” (2016) They have developed this search engine to do most or basically all the work for us when we go and look to our world wide web for assistance. Eric Schmidt states that Google was created “to solve problems that have never been solved before.” (Carr
If Google could try to stay away from law cases it could reduce expenses on having to pay for the cases as well as reduce the negative image it gives the company, professional as well as ethics. Another thing Google should look at is putting more effort into their other products and not just relying on the marketing side of the business product. With that being said I think the company should make the services they offer a little more professional as well as private (my previous example in the essay) and commit more to CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) or CSI (Corporate Social Investment).
Since its creation, the Internet has continuously grown in importance as a means to obtain information. This is due in part because it is not censored like the rest of America’s mainstream media, such as television, newspapers, and the radio. Nevertheless, the issue of censorship has raised many controversial issues, not only in the United States, but also throughout the world. In the debate by Intelligence2 (2008): Google Violates its Don’t be Evil Motto, it is argued that Google has violated its self declared motto that it wouldn’t be evil, thus putting people’s interest before their own corporate financial interests. While Google has committed certain questionable acts I do not believe they have violated their motto. Harry Lewis, Randal Picker, and Siva Vaidhyanathan argue that this violation is exposed in Goggle’s agreement to cooperate with the Chinese government in exchange of a larger monetary market and in its advertisement market (Intelligence2, 2008). Nevertheless, Esther Dyson, Jim Harper, and Jeff Jarvis argue that while such actions have occurred, the good it has brought to the over all population exemplifies their don’t be evil motto.
In 2006, Google created google.cn, this new browser offered competition to its competitors in that, there was a possibility of information privacy, hence information could not leak outside China. The users were informed of the screening process, and the Chinese-language was incorporated in google.com (Martin n.d). The censoring was due to the various results obtained as a result of various searches. The search results obtained received negative reactions from various scholars, non-governmental organizations and the citizens in general.
There are over 2,405,518,376 internet users on a global scale. More than 50% of the world have a form of Internet censorship, and of those countries China, North Korea, Iran, and Vietnam heavily restrict its citizens. This recent topic has reached new heights in the US with the growing number of access to internet. More and more people are debating whether the internet should be censored. Internet censorship is the control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the internet. This would affect everyone and me. I specifically use the internet to read about controversial view and other information that gets ignored by the media or isn’t circulated anymore. Most of these sites would fall in the black list of censoring. A small percentage of users post conspicuous posts, graphic material, and infringing copyright links. Although inappropriate it shouldn’t demand internet censorship, because it goes against the individual rights of the people. Freedom of speech and press will be restricted by the government. To a point where people would be scared to express themselves, or spread information for they might be punished. Even if their opinion is erroneous and maleficent, it’s still that person’s opinion and he’s entitled to it. Same can be said for the common good everyone should be able to voice their opinions without censorship anywhere. Everyone should also have the access to any information on the internet. If anyone is offended by what is said on the internet, then they can remember to not visit the webpage next time and hold themselves accountable. This paper will examine the issue of internet censorship constituting a violation to the American people individual rights, common good, and the constitution.
Why should the reader care about the impact of technology on market morals? Rising prevalence of technological products raises a concern for the increasing power of technological corporations such as Google. It affects our life especially when the intensifying competition drives corporations to gain comparative advantage over their rivals by spying on their users. Although internet is still a relatively new field, internet-based companies have already experienced countless lawsuits regarding the intrusion of privacy. As consumers, our growing dependence on technology allows these corporations to know and control every move we take. The section about collecting users’ data under Google’s terms of service exemplifies privacy invasion, but the most alarming part is that we do not care about it for most of the times. We regard privacy less important than the technology we are able to use by simply agreeing to give the data away. It is time we ask ourselves whether technology companies have gone too far in their reach of market domination and whether it “reduce the capacity of democracy to respond to citizens’ concerns” (Reich
Political, economic, and technological are three factors of the external environment that Google must identify with doing an external analysis. Political factor can profit Googles growth through different markets. Chinese’s and US government placed an obstacle for any growth that Google had in these markets. According to Google 2009, “They viewed Google as a monopoly and request authority to monitor its activities. The pressure of the government provides additional problems with copyright and privacy issues. As the technology expands, it offers more problems for Google. “New...
This report will describe the history of government regulations and FTC. How that applied to Google search and personal privacy. The changes made from the settlement between Google and the FTC, the difference Google's practices and policies from before the settlement and after the settlement, and the current demands and expectations from current and vocal Google users. The report will also draw a conclusion from the findings and will determine if additional regulations are needed or if the regulations currently in place are sufficient.
Google is a public corporation that deals with Internet searching, advertising, and Web-based computing technology. All these have developed from an initial search engine and the company continues to advance even to date with partnerships and acquisition of other companies and products. All of these are due to its formulation and maintenance of a unique corporate culture that other organizations have to follow in order to be as successful (Rachet, B. 2014). What makes up Google 's strong culture are values that are widely accepted and strongly held (Rachet b. 2014). Google has topped the list of Fortune 100’s Best Companies to Work for 4 times (Kim, J. 2013). Although Google has many perks on their work campus, the real formula behind their
One of the most recent examples of ethics and technology conflicts in the United States are privacy issues and how we cite, distribute and publish intellectual property on the internet. For instance, many corporations and people take advantage of the open access of the internet and the lack of legislation governing the right to post and upload information to the internet. Today, nearly every household in the United States has a computer with int...
Levy, Steven, Brad Stone, and Peter Suciu. "All Eyes On Google. (Cover Story)." Newsweek 143.13 (2004):
Censorship allows governments more control of society than they already have, slowly progressing governments utilizing censorship to a dictatorship. Often times, this censorship can lead to immense rebellions. A good example of this is in China, where Google has been censored by a provider called The Great Firewall of China, which censors information that could be viewed as defamatory or insulting to Chinese government and culture. According to the article “Google turns off China censorship warning” as published by BBC News Technology, “Google has had a rocky relationship with the Chinese authorities since January 2010, when the company said it may shut down Chinese operations due to a ‘sophisticated and targeted’ cyber attack. Google said at the time that it was no longer willing to censor the Google search engine”. Many journalists have also taken a look at Egypt, which also utilizes censorship. According to “Egyptian authorities step up censorship” as published by the Committee to Protect Journalists website, the new military-run Egyptian government is censoring news outlets and keep journalists, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates. “Egyptia...
James S. O’Rourke IV, Brynn Harris, Allison Ogilvy: Google in China: government censorship and corporate reputation Journal of Business Strategy Vol. 28 NO. 2 2007
A search engine was built in January 1996, as a research project by Larry Page, who was soon joined by Sergey Brin, two Ph.D. students at Stanford University, California. This search engine was named “BackRub,” and it was the beginning of a new era. The name of this website was changed afterward to what we know now as “Google.” I have been studying the business case of Google in one of my MIS classes and using the information I gained from that course, I am able to talk about Google. Since my audience is the instructor and my classmates, Google helps you find information that you need for your daily life in college. I want my audience to know by the end of my speech about Google //what is the history of Google, /what makes it special, //and lessons to learn from the experience of Google’s founders.