BUSINESS EHICS – GOOGLE CASE « DON’T BE EVIL »
BUSINESS EHICS - GOOGLE CASE « DON'T BE EVIL »
Google in 2000 developed a Chinese language version that the Chinese could use freely. Two years later, the government blocked the search engine because this latter did not change the findings. In 2004 the government decided to release the site but users could no longer access sites such as political movements. Google has complied with its own accord to remove all sites that should be censored according to the laws imposed by the Communist Party of China. Many words have been banned also in research, such as Hypocrite, Human Rights, Democracy...
Google mission tells that "Google mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". But also "being a Googler means holding yourself to the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct." The information is readily available for everyone who has access to Internet, without find useless information and the product must be universally accessible.
While many companies have ethical codes to govern their conduct, Google claims to have made "Don't Be Evil" a central pillar of their identity, and part of their self-proclaimed core values. In 2006, when Google declared their self-censorship move into China, their "Don't be evil" motto was questioned. Google's CEO Eric Schmidt explained that sometimes it might need to allow smaller evils for a greater good. However, Google has since challenged China's censorship policies on various occasions.
DO YOU THINK GOOGLE SHOULD CENSOR SEARCHES IN CHINA? WHY?
Google was criticized a lot by international newspapers about ethics codes. _The Financial Times_ asked to the company if they don't feel guilty about the situation and if they aren't becoming evil with censoring researches within China. The same year, Google opened offices in China because from a financial perspective, this country represents for the company a dynamic, fast-growing and increasingly competitive market.
The decisions
Google in 2000 developed a Chinese language version that the Chinese could use freely. Two years later, the government blocked the search engine because this latter did not change the findings. In 2004 the government decided to release the site but users could no longer access sites such as political movements. Google has complied with its own accord to remove all sites that should be censored according to the laws imposed by the Communist Party of China. Many words have been banned also in research, such as Hypocrite, Human Rights, Democracy...
Google mission tells that "Google mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". But also "being a Googler means holding yourself to the highest possible standard of ethical business conduct." The information is readily available for everyone who has access to Internet, without find useless information and the product must be universally accessible.
While many companies have ethical codes to govern their conduct, Google claims to have made "Don't Be Evil" a central pillar of their identity, and part of their self-proclaimed core values. In 2006, when Google declared their self-censorship move into China, their "Don't be evil" motto was questioned. Google's CEO Eric Schmidt explained that sometimes it might need to allow smaller evils for a greater good. However, Google has since challenged China's censorship policies on various occasions.
DO YOU THINK GOOGLE SHOULD CENSOR SEARCHES IN CHINA? WHY?
Google was criticized a lot by international newspapers about ethics codes. _The Financial Times_ asked to the company if they don't feel guilty about the situation and if they aren't becoming evil with censoring researches within China. The same year, Google opened offices in China because from a financial perspective, this country represents for the company a dynamic, fast-growing and increasingly competitive market.
The decisions