Should We Increase Google's Regulation?

Arguments Against Google's Regulation

The government has a habit of harshly regulating companies, and if they were to increase regulation on Google, it would most likely destroy it entirely. Econsultancy, a popular website which helps customers achieve excellence in digital business, marketing, and ecommerce, goes into depth about the disadvantages of heavy regulation of Google. Therefore, Google should not be regulated because it would greatly reduce the quality of the company as a whole.

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To start, it would be very unfair if Google were to be regulated more than other companies. Google is in a free market and there should not more regulation towards them than any other company. Chris Lake goes into detail about Google and how it compares to its competitors. He says, “People choose Google, not the other way around”; meaning that Google, overall, is better than any of its competitors like Yahoo or Bing. Also, Lake says that Google works very well, and they provide great service for the consumer.
Google’s search algorithm is kept a secret for a reason, too. If the government were to regulate how searches appeared, then Google would not provide the same experience as it does today. Many people argue that the search algorithm is unfair because your website will most likely not get noticed much on Google, However, “is it right that a market newcomer is able to usurp a veteran 10-year old internet brand to claim first place” (Lake). The search algorithm is not unfair at all; it simply gives you the highest quality websites that you are looking for.

Google's History and Size

Google, a single company built from the ground up, owns a variety of other well-known companies that you may have not known about. Two articles, one from BBC and the other from Business Insider, who are both very respected news sources, go into detail about Google’s history and what they have acquired. Overall, Google has a long history of growth and, through that time, have bought out various other companies.

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Google is one of the most valuable companies in the world; being estimated to be “worth nearly 520bn” (Hooker). This success can be originated to its two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and the company’s history. “Pulling together $1m from family, friends and other investors, Mr Brin and Mr Page launched their company on 7 September 1998” (Hooker). After that, Google has grown steadily to become the corporate giant we know today. They have gone on a spending spree and according to Mark Bergen of online technology publication Recode, “Google's executives are driven by wanting to have start-ups... they want to have a portfolio of start-ups” (Hooker). This incentive ensures that the company will grow even further.

The many companies Google has acquired has led to billions of dollars in growth, and it may be surprising to know the companies they do, in fact, own. “Since its launch in 1998, Google has acquired more than 170 companies” (D’Onfro). Their biggest acquisition ever was Motorola; costing about 12.5 billion. Next on the list is Nest: a company which makes smart thermostats and smoke detectors. This cost 3.2 billion. The list goes on, including companies like Youtube (1.65 billion) and Waze (966 million). Altogether, Google’s acquisitions make them a constantly growing company; having strong incentives for start-ups.

Future Question: What are the arguments against the regulation of Google?

Google's Shady History

Google, the corporate giant, not only has information about you, but also has a history of getting in trouble with the government for doing illegal things. Robert Epstein, a Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and the founder and Director Emeritus of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies in Massachusetts, explains what illegal things Google has gotten caught doing (articles from The Guardian & USA Today). Google, overall, is a company that does extremely illegal things, and are solely fined for the crimes they commit. They are lightly regulated for such a massive company.

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Let’s start with the regular things Google does that they do not get fined for. An article from The Guardian goes into depth about Google’s search algorithm. Google “lists its own products, from e-commerce to pages from its own Google+ network, higher than those of its competitors, even if these are sometimes of less value for consumers and should not be displayed in accordance with the Google algorithm” (Dopfner). Any of Google’s services are displayed above its competitor in a search result. This puts Google at an advantage, and weakens any competition against the company.
           

 Aside from Google’s shady search algorithm, they also have a history of doing illegal acts. From 2010 to 2012, Robert Epstein recorded a list of major offenses that Google was fined for. To begin, in 2010, “Google’s Street View teams — the mobile crews that are systematically filming every street and building in the world, including your home — were accused of deliberately capturing people’s names, telephone numbers, emails, text messages, passwords, search histories, and even online dating information as they drove from neighborhood to neighborhood in the U.S. and more than 30 other countries” (Epstein). Google was fined $25,000 for this massive invasion of privacy, and after that, nothing else was done. Later in 2011, Google got in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission about how the handles user search information, leading to regular privacy audits for the next 20 years. Also in 2011, “Google agreed to pay a whopping $500 million fine to the federal government for illegally marketing Canadian prescription medication to U.S. citizens” (Epstein). This situation could have introduced a dangerous prescription medication into the United States, if it was not for our federal government stopping it.
            

 It is not hard to see that many of the acts Google does are illegal. The things listed above are only a handful of the crimes committed between 2010 and 2012, and there might be many other crimes that they have not gotten caught for. More action needs to be taken to halt Google’s way of doing things, rather than simply fine the multi-billion dollar company that they are.

Future Question: What is Google's history and how big is the company?

Information Google Holds on You

Google holds a massive 15 exabytes of data in their servers, including data about you. An article from The Telegraph, a leading British newspaper explains what information is held under your name. Google might be a trusted company, but the data they have against you contains everything about you and your personal life, which can be very unsettling.

Source: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/

In a single Google account, there is a lot of information stored about that account holder. To begin, Google has your email address and phone number associated with your account. More shockingly,  Google has access to “all the data stored under your searching and browsing history, the locations you've been, any information sent from your devices, voice searches and videos you've searched for and watched on YouTube” (Williams). Google basically has the ability to get an insight of your life. Your browsing history will always be in there hands, no matter if you clear it. Google Maps can tell where you have visited, for example; shopping, visiting family or friends, frequent locations, etc. Even if you don't have your billing address in Google, they can tell where you live by your most frequent location. If you use Gmail, they have every single email sent and received, which contain plans, appointments, confidential information, and basically any other email attached to your account. Also, if you use any of their services such as Google Wallet or Google Docs, they can see all of that too. On smartphones, Google Wallet has the ability to use the fingerprint scanner, so if you choose to use that feature, Google also now has your fingerprints.

However, Google claims they do not use this information in any way to invade your privacy. They say the information the collect on you is simply just to make their services better: to make it a more personalized experience. In fact, they try to protect you by using your behavioral patterns to track suspicious activity: not selling your information at all. For example; for searches on Google and Google Maps, this information is used to give you suggestions based on you. But, do you feel safe with a company having every bit of information on you? If Google's servers were ever to be attacked, how would you feel if this information was in the wrong hands?

Future Question: Does Google have a history of doing shady things?

Google's Influence on People's Lives

Source: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com

• KEY ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE I’M ADDRESSING:    Institutions are the “rules of the game” that influence choices

• OVERALL RESEARCH QUESTION THAT CONNECTS MY TOPIC TO THE ECONOMIC PRINCIPLE: Should there be restrictions or laws that limit Google's power in the market in terms of privacy, anti-competitive practices, and biased search results?

• 3-4 SUB QUESTIONS/TOPICS THAT HELP ADDRESS THE OVERALL RESEARCH QUESTION and EMBEDDED LINKS TO RELIABLE SOURCES THAT HELP ANSWER THE QUESTION
• What information does Google have? Is there any privacy?
• Article from The Telegraph
• Does Google have a history of doing shady things?
• Article from The Guardian
• Article from USA Today
• Overall, how big is Google, and what influence do they have?
• Article from BBC
• Article from Business Insider