Discussion Analysis December 7, 2021 postadmin Post in Uncategorized Discussion Analysis Keyanna Dawson Grantham University Business Ethics May 19, 2020 Summary Analysis of Week 6 Discussions What a week that we have had so far in this class. The first five weeks we have seen the bad in businesses when it comes to business ethics. Then here we are in week 6 and the business of discussion is Google. With this company it does seem that they could be the model for business ethics. The reason why I think this is that they do a lot for the environment and also they are listed as one of the best companies to work for. Google strives to be a steward when it comes to protecting the environment and I think that they have done a good job in that aspect. But not every company can say that they are perfect. Google isn’t even perfect. They have a privacy issue. Even though they say that privacy is protected and not shared, but we all know that isn’t necessarily the truth. With being said, in the discussion post of Maria Lourdes Vazquez, she does point out that this case study has reminded her of how we as a society is exposed of privacy issues. She goes on to explain Google tracks and stores our search history to customize advertisements based on our searches. I did test this theory by searching something out of the ordinary to see if I start seeing advertisements for a product. So the product I chose to search was KEDS, yes I know that they are women’s shoes. I chose that because I know if Google is tracking and storing this information, then I would start to see advertisements for KEDS. After I had googled KEDS, I had closed the browser. I did not click on the link to KEDS’ website. It wasn’t even one hour, and I started seeing the advertisement of KEDS on my cell phone and even my search engines. So, this confirms that Google does track your search history and uses it to their advantage. So, does this mean we are a customer or a product to Google? To me we are now a product and items being searched is now the customer. Now with all of the ads popping up, it is making think about getting a pair of KEDS. If that happens which it will not happen, it just shows that we are the product and the company is the customer. In 2010, there was an article titled. “The Privacy Battle to Save Google From Itself”, This article goes into how “Google was under fire for its data collection practices and user tracking” (Newman, 2010). Even 11 years Google was in the hot seat over their privacy practices. Which still is a topic of concern today. I am sure everyone has heard this statement before. “Let’s Google it” or “Let’s ask my friend Google for the answer”. Ever since Google arrived, they have made themselves a household name. Everyone talks about Google being one of the best companies to work for. Also, Google is known for being a good example of protecting the environment. This is described in Maria Ortiz’s discussion post. She talks about her high school years and using Google as her preferred search engine. I to use Google most of the time when searching for things. Yes, because it is a lot easier and quicker to find things on Google. I even use Google Chrome for school. Earlier in this paper I had discussed the privacy issue that Google has. But let’s discuss a positive note when it comes to Google. Google wants their employees to have fun while working on their campus. In Maria’s post she discusses that Google’s campus has gyms, pools, restaurants and nap pods for the employees. Google also has bicycles for their employees to move about the campus without getting into a vehicle to do so. An example of how Google is being a good company for the environment, Google stated that; “In 2019, we match 100% of the electricity consumption of our operations with purchases of renewable energy for the third consecutive year”(Google, 2020) Alternatives An alternative to the negative vibe in regards to privacy, maybe Google should just be up front with their users and tell them exactly what needs to be done to turn off the tracking of their search history and other data that Google uses. With them withholding some of the steps to turn off tracking, it does give a feel that Google is up to something other than what they are telling people. Analysis In my opinion Google needs to show their users that they truly only use the information to make their service to customers better. Yes there web browser is very simple and fast but they do need to make sure that they are tracking people’s search history with their approval only. There should be only a one step process that when you turn off tracking or locations, then it should disable it everywhere else. Users shouldn’t have to go to two different places to turn that stuff off. Application Google if they are going track people’s privacy then, they should have an acknowledge banner or something letting the user know exactly what they are going to do with the information. If the person elects not to agree with the tracking, then they click on decline and that should turn off all tracking. With this it would provide people with a sense of security when it comes to know exactly what Google would do with the information. Action We do know that Google is a great company with a few flaws. But what company doesn’t have flaws? Google would improve on their image when it comes to privacy by being open and honest with their users. They need to let everyone know that they are tracking everything they do on the computer and what they are going to use it for. References Google. (2020). Environment. Google Sustainability. https://sustainability.google/environment/. Newman, L. H. (2010, November 1). The Privacy Battle to Save Google From Itself. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/google-privacy-data/.