Difference between revisions of "Google"

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==Ethical Implications==
 
==Ethical Implications==
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==Search Engine==
+
===Search Engine===
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Google is the most popular search engine, controling 65.5% of the search engine market. By using the company's search engine, billions of users are providing Google with data about their personal preferences, which Google claims is used to show advertisements more relevant to its users. Google also has many privacy features that allow user to search/use their products anonymously, such as Google Chrome's anonymous browsing mode, Incognito. To combat some of these criticisms, Google also provides many tools to opt-out of having your data collected.<ref>AlterNet, [http://www.alternet.org/story/14001/conspiracy_researcher_says_google%27s_no_good/ Conspiracy Researcher Says Google's No Good]</ref><ref>[[Wikipedia:Google|Google on Wikipedia]]</ref> <ref>http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/tools/</ref>
+
Google is the most popular search engine, controlling 65.5% of the search engine market. By using the company's search engine, billions of users are providing Google with data about their personal preferences, which Google claims is used to show advertisements more relevant to its users. This information can be used to create a detailed personal image of a user. However, Google has many privacy features that allow user to search/use their products anonymously, such as Google Chrome's anonymous browsing mode, Incognito. To combat some of these criticisms, Google also provides many tools to opt-out of having your data collected.<ref>AlterNet, [http://www.alternet.org/story/14001/conspiracy_researcher_says_google%27s_no_good/ Conspiracy Researcher Says Google's No Good]</ref><ref>[[Wikipedia:Google|Google on Wikipedia]]</ref> <ref>http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/tools/</ref>
  
−
As previously mentioned, there have been concern over the algorithms Google uses that favor certain sites over others.  If one company were to pay Google, should their site or product show up sooner than another companies product?  Essentially it depends on whether you think it would be fair and/or advantageous for Google to participate in these business practices.  Those who oppose this idea may see Google as a place to reference information and not a place where certain information is more commonly presented to you because of economic or political reasons.
+
There are also concerns about the algorithms Google uses to rank pages - many accuse the system of being biased, and favoring certain pages over others.  
  
−
In addition there are increasing concerns over the data collection that Google has been accused of.  If users search for a particular pair of jeans, sports team, or any other item should there search be logged and noted?  Of course anonymity online is a growing and prevalent concern in today's online world, but the collection of a user's search information could easily lead to a detailed picture of their personal preferences, likes, dislikes, etc.  As a result [http://si410ethics11.projects.si.umich.edu/index.php/Targeted_Advertising_(Online) targeted advertisements] might begin appearing.  The wide range of effects data mining can have while using Google's search engine is far reaching.  Because Google is viewed as a service and is certainly not something online user's are forced to use, it is mostly to the user's discretion whether or not to use Google. Despite this individuals who are unaware of some of the actions (or lack of action) that Google is accused of engaging in, might be not agree with the data mining that is rumored to be occurring.
+
Additionally The Google search bar is programmed to auto complete while a user is typing, which can influence user searches. Some people argue that this allows Google to think for users by influencing them to search for certain things.
  
−
On a different note, the Google search bar is programmed such that it tries to auto complete while a user is typing into the search bar. The argument that follows is: does this feature influence our search? Do we always end up searching for the thing that we initially began to search for, or do we change our minds by looking at the auto complete entries? Some people argue that this allows Google to think for us because our thinking is influenced by an outside source. On other hand, the auto complete can also be helpful at times, because some times people do not exactly know what they want to search for, but they have a rough idea about it. For instance, if someone wants to search for a song and does not know the exact name, this feature helps to make the search easy.
+
===Google Translate===
 +
There are also ethical implications associated with Google Translate. Google translate often translates things literally, meaning that things get lost in the translation.  
  
−
As far as some of the sub features of Google are concerned, there may be some implications associated with Google Translate. Sometimes, Google translate performs a word to word translation and the true meaning is often lost during such translations. Also, there have been growing concerns about Google Street view, where people are worried about appearing in Google street view's images. Some people think that it is not morally right to capture images of people and make them available on the Internet.
+
===Google Street View===
 +
There have been growing concerns regarding Google Street view; people are worried about appearing in Google Street View images. Some argue that it is not ethical to capture these pictures without the consent of those who may appear in them.  
  
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A whole slew of other issues could arise in regard to Google's social media platform, Google+. There are many different ethical implications surrounding sites like Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, such as privacy, ownership and censorship, among many others. Google+ has experimented with the idea of 'circles,' which are user-created groups of friends that are designed to be private. The platform is still relatively young and is still growing quite rapidly.
+
===Google+===
 +
Google+ creates similar ethical concerns to other social media sites, like Facebook. Privacy, ownership and censorship are three of the most prominent. However, Google's social media platform is still relatively young and is still improving, meaning that some of these concerns may be addressed in updates to the site.
  
 
===Copyright===
 
===Copyright===
−
Google has also been accused numerous times of breaching copyright law (see [[Google Books]]).
+
Google, specifically [[Google Books]] has been accused numerous times of breaching copyright law.
  
−
== Google in China ==
+
===Nymwars===
 +
There has been a lot of controversy regarding Google's policy of requiring users to use real names on Google+, as well as Google's recent encouragement of the use of real names on Youtube.<ref>http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/06/choosing-how-youre-seen-on-youtube.html</ref>
 +
 
 +
===China===
 
On March 22, 2010 Google shut down China site in dispute over censorship. It re-routed all mainland china attempts to the Hong-Kong uncensored version of its website. Mainland China had a different version of Google that censored its search results. This powerful more by Google represented a moral objections to repeated attacks from Chinese hackers, on Google accounts. This was an extremely risky move by Google risking nearly 400 million web users. This number is also growing at an increasing rate and is only 1/4th of the potential size of web users origination from China.
 
On March 22, 2010 Google shut down China site in dispute over censorship. It re-routed all mainland china attempts to the Hong-Kong uncensored version of its website. Mainland China had a different version of Google that censored its search results. This powerful more by Google represented a moral objections to repeated attacks from Chinese hackers, on Google accounts. This was an extremely risky move by Google risking nearly 400 million web users. This number is also growing at an increasing rate and is only 1/4th of the potential size of web users origination from China.
 
Google has maintained a lot if its Chinese operations and did not pull out of the country completely. It's redirection of users was a solid step towards stopping internet censorship even while the Chinese government has clearly stated that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.
 
Google has maintained a lot if its Chinese operations and did not pull out of the country completely. It's redirection of users was a solid step towards stopping internet censorship even while the Chinese government has clearly stated that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.
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In 2006, Google made the decision to censor search results for the Chinese version of their search service, located at [http://www.google.cn Google China]. Multiple groups spoke out about the company's decision. Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, described the decision as a "real shame." Google refuted the negative response by stating that they felt that they could make a more positive contribution in China by maintaining operations. They also stated that it fit better with their company mission to provide some information to Chinese citizens with some results instead of none. It stuck firmly to its promise to "Don't do evil"<ref>BBC,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4645596.stm/ Google censors itself for China]</ref>
 
In 2006, Google made the decision to censor search results for the Chinese version of their search service, located at [http://www.google.cn Google China]. Multiple groups spoke out about the company's decision. Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, described the decision as a "real shame." Google refuted the negative response by stating that they felt that they could make a more positive contribution in China by maintaining operations. They also stated that it fit better with their company mission to provide some information to Chinese citizens with some results instead of none. It stuck firmly to its promise to "Don't do evil"<ref>BBC,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4645596.stm/ Google censors itself for China]</ref>
  
−
=== Cyberattack and Removal of Censorship ===
+
===Cyberattack and Removal of Censorship===
 
Google was a target of a cyberattack on January 12, 2010. The company reported that it was one of multiple targets, across multiple industries (technology, media, biology, and more) and that the attack had originated in China. Human rights activists interested in the well-being of those in China seemed to be some of the primary targets, according to Google. These attacks resulted in theft of intellectual property.<ref>TechCrunch, [http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/12/google-china-attacks/ Google Defends Against Large Scale Chinese Cyber Attack: May Cease Chinese Operations]</ref> Shortly after this event, Google threatened to leave China if the cyberattacks and intrusions did not stop.<ref name="nyt">NYT, [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/technology/23google.html] Google Shuts China Site in Dispute Over Censorship</ref>
 
Google was a target of a cyberattack on January 12, 2010. The company reported that it was one of multiple targets, across multiple industries (technology, media, biology, and more) and that the attack had originated in China. Human rights activists interested in the well-being of those in China seemed to be some of the primary targets, according to Google. These attacks resulted in theft of intellectual property.<ref>TechCrunch, [http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/12/google-china-attacks/ Google Defends Against Large Scale Chinese Cyber Attack: May Cease Chinese Operations]</ref> Shortly after this event, Google threatened to leave China if the cyberattacks and intrusions did not stop.<ref name="nyt">NYT, [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/technology/23google.html] Google Shuts China Site in Dispute Over Censorship</ref>
  
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The Chinese government has the ability to decide what its citizens can and cannot have access to. Similarly, Google has the ability to decide what content it wants to provide to its users. This is a case where these two groups disagreed based upon bureaucratic reasons or moral reasons, respectively. Some may argue that Google is "in the right" in this situation because some of the things that the Chinese government wants blocked relate to previous actions that it has taken, which may be interpreted negatively. An example is [[Wikipedia:Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989|The Tiananmen Square Massacre]] in 1989. By prohibiting this information to be accessed by its citizens, China is inhibiting [[Information Transparency]], which is a pro-ethical action or condition. Google, after putting business growth ahead of ethics in 2006, made the decision to support more information transparency in China, but only after they personally felt the affects of harmful Chinese cyberattacks.
 
The Chinese government has the ability to decide what its citizens can and cannot have access to. Similarly, Google has the ability to decide what content it wants to provide to its users. This is a case where these two groups disagreed based upon bureaucratic reasons or moral reasons, respectively. Some may argue that Google is "in the right" in this situation because some of the things that the Chinese government wants blocked relate to previous actions that it has taken, which may be interpreted negatively. An example is [[Wikipedia:Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989|The Tiananmen Square Massacre]] in 1989. By prohibiting this information to be accessed by its citizens, China is inhibiting [[Information Transparency]], which is a pro-ethical action or condition. Google, after putting business growth ahead of ethics in 2006, made the decision to support more information transparency in China, but only after they personally felt the affects of harmful Chinese cyberattacks.
  
−
==Nymwars==
 
−
''Main article:'' [[Nymwars]]
 
−
 
−
There has been a lot of controversy due to Google's policy of requiring real names on Google+, and recently when Google began encouraging the use of real names on Youtube.<ref>http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/06/choosing-how-youre-seen-on-youtube.html</ref>
 
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==

Revision as of 03:21, 9 December 2012

←Back • ↑Topics • ↑Categories
google.com
Google logo.jpeg
G1.png
"Google" Site
Type E-Commerce
Cloud Based Storage
Software Developer
Hardware Developer
Launch Date September 4, 1998
Status Active
Product Line Search Engine
Gmail
Android
Platform Cloud Service
Website www.google.com

Google is a worldwide search, advertising, and service-based corporation. The largest U.S. based web company, Google has distinguished itself from other companies by adopting the catch-all mantra "don't be evil", and by avoiding the "corporate" feel that tech start-ups tend to fall into after experiencing massive growth.[1]

Mantra

"Don't be evil." [2]


History

Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Page graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering. Brin, originally born in Russia, graduated from the University of Maryland, with a Bachelor of Science in computer science and mathematics. Both Page and Brin later attend Stanford University to complete their Master of Science degrees in Human Computer Interaction.

Google began as a research project at Standford, but quickly became a project worth pursuing, which Page and Brin decided to to run full time.[3]. Google was founded on September 4th, 1998 in Menlo Park, California and have since moved their headquarters to Mountain View, California.[4][5]

Their intention was to create a product to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful".[6] Since then, the company has rapidly expanded and produced a suite of products far beyond the initial search engine. Google acquires companies on a regular basis and has entered into many different markets.[7] It also leads the production of the Android operating system, the Chrome browser, and Google+, among other things.

After some Initial Financing, Google's initial public offering occurred on August 19, 2004 for $85 at 18,605,052 shares. With a starting market cap of $23 billion, the world began to realize that Google had potential. As of 2010, the company has 31,353 employees and total assets of $57.851 billion.[4]

Acquisitions

Since 2001, Google has acquired over 100 companies. Some of the most influential acquisitions include: Keyhole, Inc, Android, YouTube, DoubleClick, and GrandCentral. Many of these acquisitions eventually became key aspects of Google's platform, including Google Groups, GoogleEarth, and Google Sites. They also have partnerships with companies like NASA Ames Research Center, Sun Microsystems, AOL, Time Warner, Microsoft, Nokia, and Ericsson.

Data Centers

As of 2011, Google owns and operates six data centers in the United States, one in Finland, and another in Belgium. They also plan to build another three data centers in Asia in the next two years.

Advertising

Advertising is the number one revenue source for Google; 99% of their total revenue comes from advertising. Google helped to engineer a new type of competitive advertising that ensures the highest bidder pays only 1 cent above the second place bidder. Additionally, the company helped popularize the Pay Per Click (ppm) model now used by the majority of online advertisers.

Adwords

Adwords is a Google campaign that allows advertisers to rent out space and pay on a cost per click (CPC) basis. Before Adwords, sites were allowed to choose their own "keywords" - the words used by Google to determine the appropriate search results. But Larry Page, in developing his famous "Page Rank" system, decided that advertisers should have to do less work and developed an algorithm that mitigated users gaming the system.


Google Products

Some of Google Cloud Apps

Web

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is Google's web browser. It has built in malware and phishing protection, and auto updates to ensure the latest security fixes. Google Chrome also has Google search embedded in the navigation bar, making searching fast and easy.[8]

Web Search

Google is the most-used search engine on the web. Google uses a "PageRank" algorithm, named after Google founder Larry Page, to rank pages that show up in Google's results. The PageRank's main function is to search for text, on webpages in order to determine the relevancy to a user's search. Users also have the ability to filter their search result by category, including images, news, and books.[9]

Mobile

Android

Google's mobile platform, Android is the world's most popular mobile platform. Android allows users to utilize Google Apps, in addition to the 600,000 apps available on Google Play.[10]

Media

Google Books

Google Books allows users to search for books, and in some cases, see a preview or view the entire book. If a book is in the public domain, users are also able to download a PDF copy.

Google Play

Originally called Google Music, Google Play allows users to upload their music and other documents so that they can be accessed on other devices. Google Play syncs automatically, and can also be set to enable offline use.

Google Images

Google Images is Google's specific search engine for photos.

Google News

Similar to Google images, Google News filter search results to only display news articles.

Picasa

Picasa has been integrated into Google+, allowing users to easily share their images with their Circles on the social networking site.[11]

Picnik

After being acquired by Google in 2010, Picnik worked to create photo editing software for Google+. Though the site no longer exists, many of Picnik's features can be found in the Creative Kit in Google+.[12]

Videos

Google Videos is Google's search engine for video content.

YouTube

YouTube, a video sharing site, was purchased by Google for 1.65 billion USD in November 2006.[13]

Geo

Home & Office

  • Calendar
  • Docs
  • Gmail
  • Google Health
  • Google Wallet
  • Sites
  • Talk
  • Translate
  • Voice

Social

Innovation

  • Fusion Tables
  • PageRank
  • Self-driving Cars
  • Google Glass

Ethical Implications

Search Engine

Google is the most popular search engine, controlling 65.5% of the search engine market. By using the company's search engine, billions of users are providing Google with data about their personal preferences, which Google claims is used to show advertisements more relevant to its users. This information can be used to create a detailed personal image of a user. However, Google has many privacy features that allow user to search/use their products anonymously, such as Google Chrome's anonymous browsing mode, Incognito. To combat some of these criticisms, Google also provides many tools to opt-out of having your data collected.[14][15] [16]

There are also concerns about the algorithms Google uses to rank pages - many accuse the system of being biased, and favoring certain pages over others.

Additionally The Google search bar is programmed to auto complete while a user is typing, which can influence user searches. Some people argue that this allows Google to think for users by influencing them to search for certain things.

Google Translate

There are also ethical implications associated with Google Translate. Google translate often translates things literally, meaning that things get lost in the translation.

Google Street View

There have been growing concerns regarding Google Street view; people are worried about appearing in Google Street View images. Some argue that it is not ethical to capture these pictures without the consent of those who may appear in them.

Google+

Google+ creates similar ethical concerns to other social media sites, like Facebook. Privacy, ownership and censorship are three of the most prominent. However, Google's social media platform is still relatively young and is still improving, meaning that some of these concerns may be addressed in updates to the site.

Copyright

Google, specifically Google Books has been accused numerous times of breaching copyright law.

Nymwars

There has been a lot of controversy regarding Google's policy of requiring users to use real names on Google+, as well as Google's recent encouragement of the use of real names on Youtube.[17]

China

On March 22, 2010 Google shut down China site in dispute over censorship. It re-routed all mainland china attempts to the Hong-Kong uncensored version of its website. Mainland China had a different version of Google that censored its search results. This powerful more by Google represented a moral objections to repeated attacks from Chinese hackers, on Google accounts. This was an extremely risky move by Google risking nearly 400 million web users. This number is also growing at an increasing rate and is only 1/4th of the potential size of web users origination from China. Google has maintained a lot if its Chinese operations and did not pull out of the country completely. It's redirection of users was a solid step towards stopping internet censorship even while the Chinese government has clearly stated that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement.

Initial Censorship of Search Results

In 2006, Google made the decision to censor search results for the Chinese version of their search service, located at Google China. Multiple groups spoke out about the company's decision. Julian Pain, internet spokesman for campaign group Reporters Without Borders, described the decision as a "real shame." Google refuted the negative response by stating that they felt that they could make a more positive contribution in China by maintaining operations. They also stated that it fit better with their company mission to provide some information to Chinese citizens with some results instead of none. It stuck firmly to its promise to "Don't do evil"[18]

Cyberattack and Removal of Censorship

Google was a target of a cyberattack on January 12, 2010. The company reported that it was one of multiple targets, across multiple industries (technology, media, biology, and more) and that the attack had originated in China. Human rights activists interested in the well-being of those in China seemed to be some of the primary targets, according to Google. These attacks resulted in theft of intellectual property.[19] Shortly after this event, Google threatened to leave China if the cyberattacks and intrusions did not stop.[20]

In March of 2010, Google announced that they were going to redirect all Google.cn traffic to Google.hk, the domain for Google in Hong Kong. Doing so essentially removed all censorship that Chinese users were affected by prior to this change.[21] This seems to have been in response to continued cyberattacks after Google's warning.

Ethical implications

“This has become a war of ideas between the American company moralizing about Internet censorship and the Chinese government having its own views on the matter.”

-Emily Parker[20]

The Chinese government has the ability to decide what its citizens can and cannot have access to. Similarly, Google has the ability to decide what content it wants to provide to its users. This is a case where these two groups disagreed based upon bureaucratic reasons or moral reasons, respectively. Some may argue that Google is "in the right" in this situation because some of the things that the Chinese government wants blocked relate to previous actions that it has taken, which may be interpreted negatively. An example is The Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. By prohibiting this information to be accessed by its citizens, China is inhibiting Information Transparency, which is a pro-ethical action or condition. Google, after putting business growth ahead of ethics in 2006, made the decision to support more information transparency in China, but only after they personally felt the affects of harmful Chinese cyberattacks.


See Also

External Links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-15/facebook-passes-ebay-in-value-becoming-no-3-u-s-web-company.html
  2. ↑ Telecom Circle Google: Don’t be Evil
  3. ↑ Google, 1995-1997
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Google Our history in depth
  5. ↑ Google, 2004
  6. ↑ Google, Company
  7. ↑ Scores, Google
  8. ↑ Google,Chrome
  9. ↑ Wikipedia, Google Search
  10. ↑ http://www.android.com/about/
  11. ↑ http://support.google.com/picasa/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=93773
  12. ↑ http://www.picnik.com/home
  13. ↑ Youtube | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube
  14. ↑ AlterNet, Conspiracy Researcher Says Google's No Good
  15. ↑ Google on Wikipedia
  16. ↑ http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/tools/
  17. ↑ http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2012/06/choosing-how-youre-seen-on-youtube.html
  18. ↑ BBC,Google censors itself for China
  19. ↑ TechCrunch, Google Defends Against Large Scale Chinese Cyber Attack: May Cease Chinese Operations
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 NYT, [1] Google Shuts China Site in Dispute Over Censorship
  21. ↑ BBC, Google stops censoring search results in China

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