Recently there was an article in the Time Magazine Online that relays information about Google executives who are being charge because they did not censor the video that was posted and did not respond quickly enough when formal complaint were issued. The video was of a mentally disabled boy who was being teased and bullied by other students. I think that this is morally wrong but I think that Friedman would believe that the government (courts) is taking power into their hands that is not necessary needed. I believe that it isn’t right for Google to enable or promote these kinds of videos but I Friedman would believe Google to be a business that has the ability to do what they want even something as unethical as this and it should not be up to the government to control the business actions. I think Friedman would want the government to butt out and to let the shareholder and users of the site determine what is acceptable and really what is profitable. By letting our government control and sensor the actions and content of businesses would be to take away from humans freedoms.
Just learned how to do pictures! Exciting!
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a difficult issue to discuss as it involves morals which Friedman doesn't really talk about. However, I believe that the court was in a sense trying to 'umpire' this horrible occurrence, but it does feel slightly extreme. To properly umpire this situation like Friedman it would mean to only and directly deal with the people who broke the contract. The people who posted the video broke the contractual agreement to only post appropriate video content. Additionally, Google has a responsibility to monitor all things posted via their website. Thus, each party should be punished accordingly, however, I do not feel that the punishment is appropriate for the crime.
ReplyDeleteThe government is over using their power to apply a punishment which is unjust for the crime. Therefore, I think that Friedman would find it problematic and wrong.
I think I get what you are trying to say in relating this to Friedman. HE wouldn't want the government getting involved in the affairs of businesses, but I also think that sometimes it's needed. I also feel that this is another debate about censorship. If google should be blamed for not censoring a video of a mentally disabled child being bullied, then what about those who post these same videos on Youtube? This is really a moral and censorship debate.
ReplyDeleteFriedman believes the marketplace can provide and take care of itself thus, I agree that this matter of Google is that of the marketplace and is not relevant to government. According to Friedman, government should only handle the affairs that affect everyone in society. Moreover, he describes government as Frankenstein because it creates things that it cannot control. It amazes me that government would have the time to get involved with the affairs of Google which is trivial in comparison to major issues, such as, the war in Iraq. In short, I find the delayed actions of Google in removing the video of the disable child being bullied and teased to be offensive and unethical. However, this is an affair of the marketplace and not of government.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the film "15 Minutes." In the film, a detective is killed and his killers record it, at which they pass it along to a news anchor in order to get famous, and the news anchor does play it to the shock of everyone. In the film the news anchor did for an obvious reason, publicity and a large sum of money from the two killers. The film, "15 Minutes," is a mainstream film, but almost made like a documentary on how America is, how we would do anything in order to make money, how businesses and companies would ignore the rights of others in order to make the profit that's needed. It just reminds me of how our government should not be at all. As for what Google did, it is a free market, I myself would not watch the video, but I feel like I'm not against it being put up, no matter how morally wrong the contents of the video have. Sometimes from outrageous videos as such, humans can learn to better themselves, for others it may just make things worse.
ReplyDeleteIn cases like this Google debate, people should really understand that there is going to always be an ethical issue. You are right, the government should butt out. But Google is an American company, and something tells me that the motivation behind the government partaking in this issue has to do with national pride. We don't want to be looked at as a nation who does inhumane things, and so for the government acting as if they care will ease those who want to criticize. Political actions are sometimes taken because the rest of the world still does look up to America. You are right though, but I wanted to shed some light on how there may be another perspective on this issue.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Monday is our last day :( See you outside after class! Haha.