https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/
One of the websites that we had assigned to our group was
the Google website. It was really easy to locate Google’s “Terms of Services.”
But reading them was an entirely different story. While they were very short
and broken down into different sections regarding different things, it was
rather hard to understand them. One of the main things that made it difficult
to understand what they were talking about is that they never explained just
what services they are referring to. It would have been much easier to
understand what services/websites these terms covered if they had listed them
all instead of referring to them only as “Our Services.”
Using the ethical theory of Utilitarinism, Google’s terms of
services can be seen as unethical. One example is that the terms and services
allow Google to display “your Profile name, Profile photo, and actions you take
on Google or on third-party applications connected to your Google Account.” This
can be seen as unethical because the benefit of displaying a person’s internet
activity is outweighed by the cost to society’s right to privacy. Another way Google's terms of services may be seen as unethical is when they say "When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give
Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store,
reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting
from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your
content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly
perform, publicly display and distribute such content." This means you are not only giving Google the rights to anything you post on the site, but anybody Google works with. This is unethical because they can take a picture you post and change or modify it and then publish it and publicly display it which can be seen as an invasion of privacy.
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms
The terms on Facebook were fairly simple to find. It was located on the homepage underneath where you would sign up for the social networking page. Reading the terms was also pretty easy as they had it broken up into sections and the wording was simple and easy enough to read and understand. At the bottom of the terms they also included a "Definitions" section which they used to defined terms some may not understand and to clarify the meaning.
Using Utilitarianism, the terms of Facebook would not be very ethical. In the second section of "Sharing Your Content and Information" it states "For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License)." This is saying any picture or video you post, they have rights to use it. That can be considered an invasion of privacy and not very ethical. They also go on to say even after you delete it, they may keep back up copies. Another example would be Facebook saying they "appreciate your feedback or other suggestions about Facebook, but you understand that we may use them without any obligation to compensate you for them". This would be unethical according to the utilitarianism theory because one end of the party is not being compensated for their work and/or ideas. That does not generate the greatest net utility for all parties involved because only Facebook would be gaining anything.
https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms
The terms on Facebook were fairly simple to find. It was located on the homepage underneath where you would sign up for the social networking page. Reading the terms was also pretty easy as they had it broken up into sections and the wording was simple and easy enough to read and understand. At the bottom of the terms they also included a "Definitions" section which they used to defined terms some may not understand and to clarify the meaning.
Using Utilitarianism, the terms of Facebook would not be very ethical. In the second section of "Sharing Your Content and Information" it states "For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License)." This is saying any picture or video you post, they have rights to use it. That can be considered an invasion of privacy and not very ethical. They also go on to say even after you delete it, they may keep back up copies. Another example would be Facebook saying they "appreciate your feedback or other suggestions about Facebook, but you understand that we may use them without any obligation to compensate you for them". This would be unethical according to the utilitarianism theory because one end of the party is not being compensated for their work and/or ideas. That does not generate the greatest net utility for all parties involved because only Facebook would be gaining anything.
Both Google and
Facebook have similar aspects in their Terms and Services. Both are well
laid out and easily readable giving and understanding of terms and
services of these sites. Facebook has a more in-depth description of
there terms and services. Although, both share similar principles in
stating their terms on things such as privacy, liability, copyright,
terminating services, and use of your uploaded content. Both may
review content to determine whether it is illegal or violates their
policies, and they may remove or refuse to display content that they
reasonably believe violates their policies or the law. Neither site will be responsible for lost profits, revenues, data, financial losses, or indirect, exemplary, or punitive damages. Neither site can guarantee that your
information will be safe. They do what they can to insure the privacy
and safety of your information. After submitting anything to either
site, in their terms, it states that they therefore have rights to use
your information, such as pictures, videos, or content, in manners they
seem fit. Which I see as unethical, for if anyone else were to use your
personal content it would be considered copyright infringement, but because you are uploading to their services it therefore makes it their content also. From the
perspective of the user, both Google and Facebook have all the power when it comes to the
terms and services. The user doesn't get to decide what Google and Facebook can and cannot see. The user also has no control over what is done with any of the information that is gathered about them.
