© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines UNAVOIDABLE ETHICAL QUESTIONS ABOUT SEARCH ENGINES

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines VOCABULARY Digitize the contents It typically refers to music, information and images that are available for download or distribution on electronic media. Unscrupulous Behaving in a way that is dishonest or unfair in order to get what you want. SubpoenaA writ ordering a person to attend a court. "A subpoena may be issued to compel their attendance“. TacticAn action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end. Search engineA program that searches for and identifies items in a database that correspond to keywords or characters specified by the user.

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines FROM A UTILITARIAN PERSPECTIVE GOOGLE, YAHOO, AND AMAZON have all announced or begun programs to digitize the contents of books so that they can be searched and downloaded by anyone with a computer. In response to Google's announcement, the Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers filed lawsuits over the scanning of copyrighted books. What are the benefits of allowing free access to books on line? What are the harms?

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines FROM A RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE: 1.Free Speech and Access to Information All the major search engine companies have agreed to censor certain sites when they operate in some foreign countries. The Chinese government has insisted on blocking certain political sites; the German government on blocking Nazi or other hate sites. Citing child pornography and unscrupulous contractors as examples, Bill Gates recently told the Financial Times, "There are Web sites that any government wants to block." Do people have a right to all information? If not, what kinds of information should be restricted and who should decide?

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines 2.PRIVACY Recently the U.S. government subpoenaed search records from Google, Yahoo, and MSN as part of an effort to control children's access to pornography on the Internet. Yahoo and MSN complied, but Google argued that the subpoena infringed on user privacy. To what extent are individuals' search records deserving of strong privacy protection? What about aggregated search records?

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines 3.FROM A FAIRNESS PERSPECTIVE All Web site owners would like to have the Number 1 position in the major search engines. In order to achieve that, many try to optimize their sites so they will achieve higher page ranking. The search engines set rules for search engine optimization (SEO); for example, webmasters are not supposed to insert invisible text, create link exchanges with irrelevant sites, etc. Some argue that these practices-called black-hat SEO-undermine the fairness of the results. Others say these tactics are not immoral because they are only breaking the arbitrary rules set by the search engines. What are the standards for a "fair" search environment, and who should set them?

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines 4.FROM A COMMON GOOD PERSPECTIVE Search engines that produce unbiased, relevant results have become a common resource worth protecting. The information on the World Wide Web would be essentially inaccessible without them. What social policies and business practices will preserve that common good? Are sponsored links part of paying for the public good?

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines 5.FROM A VIRTUE PERSPECTIVE The search engine industry depends upon trust. Users come to a particular search engine because they trust that they will get unbiased results. What virtues does a search engine company have to practice in order to gain this trust?

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines 1.How important are search engines to you? 2. Which search engine do you use the most? 3. Can you trust the information provided by search engines? 4. What are the limitations on search engines? 5. Are search engines boon to the modern era? CONVERSATION

© 2015 albert-learning.com Unavoidable ethical questions about search engines Reviewed By Reviewed On Comments / Changes Made Dimple Added punctuations in Slide 2.