Google: Violating Ethical Standards

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Recommended: Google in china case study

At the beginning of launching of a search engine in China by Google, the firms need was to incorporate the Chinese language into the Google search engine. However, Google gave the Chinese government mandate to decide the content that would be censored. Later, the Chinese search was shut down by the government. As a result of this, Google decided to put a computer in china to help investigate illegal sites of websites. The computer was programmed outside the vicinity Chinese government which helped Google identify the restricted websites. And as a result, Google launched a new product that gave users the best and high quality internet services.

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.

The long term objective of Google was to ensure that everyone would have an access to the most valuable information in the world, at all places and at all times when one was looking for such information. This objective was limited by the restriction of the Chinese government on the anti-Chinese government information censoring. The short term objectives included: to satisfy the needs of users while competing favorably with other companies in the same industry, to increase the accessibility of information to all people in order to make people get informed a...

... middle of paper ...

...nlimited access to internet, the firm is compromising the users’ freedom to get as much information as possible from the internet. The firm therefore is violating its stated ethical standards. The firm further presents a case whereby firms are oriented on having a market share and gaining revenues, but compromising their ethical principles in the process.

References

Griseri, P, &Seppala, N, 2010, Business Ethics

Ferrell, O, Fraedrich, J, & Ferrell, L 2009, Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases

Martin, K n.d, Google, Inc., In China: Teaching Note for Bri-1004

Morrill, C n.d, Ethics In Question: Is Goggles Censoring of Anti-Chinese Information on Its Chinese Search Engine Ethical

Musielak, L n.d, Google-Ing China: An Ethical Analysis of Goggles Censorship Activities in the Peoples Republic

The Kenan Institute for Ethics n.d, Google in China

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