Google has proposed an agreement with representatives of authors and publishers to host a massive digital library. This library will consist of mostly books published in the United States. Google will make digitally available new and old books. This catalog will include books that are no longer in print and “orphan” texts (books where the copyright owner is unknown or contact information is unavailable).5 The texts will be available through search engines, for individual sale as electronic-books, and with database subscriptions. If the Google agreement is approved by the Justice Department, ethical issues would come into question. The issues addressed in this paper include whether the agreement creates a “legally sanctioned cartel for digital book rights”4 and if the public benefits outweigh the monopoly consequences. Google has the network, storage, man power and funding to make this digital library a possibility, yet is this justification enough to give one company so much concentrated power over information access?
Using the utilitarian approach, arguments both for and against the Google library agreement can be supported. First the audience should be established. Authors and publishers could be financially affected by this agreement. They are represented as a whole by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. Both groups are working together to ensure that writers are not
under compensated by Google and that publishing prices do not become too high. The Google company and its competitors are directly affected by the outcome of the agreement. Google will take on a huge expense in hopes to gain a reasonable profit. Competitors with equivalent capabilities, such as Microsoft and Amazon, have not expressed ...
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...t there is no immediate need to settle for the current agreement. The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers should take time to incorporate preventative measures in the agreement. Given the substantial impact the digital library would make time should be taken to re-discuss terms of usage, include amendments and restrictions.
References
1. E. HARRIS and R. JAMES, ENGR 482 Class Notes, Texas A&M University (Fall 2009).
2. HARRIS,PRITCHARD, RABINS, “Engineering Ethics”, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Belmont (2009)
3. J. E. VASCELLARO and J. A. TRACHTENBERG, “Digital-Rights Signatories Revisit Google’s deal” , Wall Street Journal; wsj.com (October 29,2009)
4. S. SHANKLAND, “Google’s Digital-book Future Hangs in the Balance”, News.cnet.com (October 2009)
5. P. SCHRANK, “Google’s Big Book Case”, The Economist print edition (September 3rd 2009)
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.
When Tim Berners-Lee created the Internet as a non-proprietor, not-for-profit information conduit, he could not have predicted how controversial digitized intellectual property would become. Prior to the Internet, intellectual property was a fairly straightforward issue. It was protected with copyright, trademark, and patent legislations, which granted exclusive rights to owners. Violations were not as abundant because distribution was constrained by time and space. Moreover, violators were identifiable because anonymity was difficult to achieve. In today's "global village" however, digital information such as books, music, software and art can be instantly shared between two anonymous users, without any fee to the creator. Legislation is much more difficult to enforce.
...as not only been reliable when it arises to offering a product of the highest and excellence, nonetheless is also continually developing, adjusting, but more meaningfully revolutionizing the industry. Also, what creates Google’s invention so matchless in assessment to its challengers is the attention that it offers to consumer requirements in order to offer a consistent and difficultly substituted the product rather than concentrating on exploiting its profit with each given chance which may cooperation the quality of its search consequence its product. Having examined the company’s internal and external environment it is obvious that Google earnings care and attentions even to the smallest detail to guarantee that it will be the leading company between many other online search engines and has been able to create loyal customers that are continually growing.
Traditionally, book authors have had the Copyright Law to protect their creations. That changed, however, since their books have become available in electronic format. In short, the creations had been turned into information – one that can effortlessly be copied and distributed thanks to invent of computers, Internet, and (lately), cheap data storage devices. Adobe Corporation’s eBook was meant to fix that problem for the copyright owners, while letting the readers keep their rights to their copy of the book.
The Internet. It is a vast network of millions of users, surfing and sharing billions of files, all day, every day. To individuals holding copyrights on intellectual property, this is a frightening proposition. After all, there is virtually no protection for these copyright holders from the misuse of their property. But, as Scott Sullivan, writer for The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin stated, “as history has proven, technological and societal advances usually come with a price.” The price society is paying for the Internet is a loss of copyright protection by laws for their intellectual material.
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...
Abstract: In 1995 Lance Rose and Esther Dyson wrote articles in Wired Magazine expressing polarized views on the future of copyright law and copyright infringement. This essay reviews those articles, analyzes each article's accuracy as defined by current trends years later.
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 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.
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...
With technology progressing from drones fulfilling shipments to electronic books becoming cheaper, major companies such as Apple and Amazon have had a big impact on not only the tech industry but the publishing industry as well. Companies are outputting resources like IBook’s and the Kindle bookstore to take full advantage of the transition to digital publishing. As a result of this we have greener, more budget friendly books, and outdated traditional copies of text. With the introduction to these resources it is making the lives of students and the mass market more convenient. Students are now able to purchase books on one device that won’t weigh their bags down on a daily basis. Companies have created bookstores that can be accessed from devices that we use every day, resulting in paperless copies of books that are substantially cheaper than the traditional hard copy. E-books are replacing physical books and textbooks rapidly, and as a result they are becoming more widely and readily available for students.
Samuelson, Pamela. "The Digital Rights War." The Presence of Others: Voices and Images that call for Response. Ed. Andrea A. Lunsford & John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2000. 315-320.
2009 was a negative period for the United States economy. A big recession hit the country, and the founders of Google were trying to make a plan in order to make to limit the damage caused by an economic decline. Brin and Page the two creators of the giant Google were shocked form the situation that was occurring. Their company was feeling the effect of the economic downturn. Google’s stock price dropped 51 percent. The two entrepreneurs were trying to figure out a way to keep the company from drowning. Google main problem was how to maintain the culture that made the company successful in the previous two years. Some consequences that the company had to face was eliminating products that
Interests: The image of Google in the media and among investors will be seriously damaged if it act antithetically to its philosophy of “Don’t’ be evil” It might affect negatively to the future prosperity of the company.
...services and Google should strive to remain ethical and committed to the privacy agreements made between the company and the users