Privacy will hit tipping point in 2016

Running Head: PRIVACY WILL HIT TIPPING POINT IN 2016 1
Privacy will hit tipping point in 2016

Privacy will hit tipping point in 2016 2
Introduction to the Media Story
In the current times, privacy is a biggest concern for the internet users and the business
giants. In the past, there have been several instances, wherein the privacy of the consumers has
been compromised. It has motivated the government regulators to implement policies to protect
the user privacy. However, there are several companies such as Google and Facebook, which are
using the consumer information as the primary source of revenue. These regulations will create a
huge impact on the revenue source of these companies. However, appropriate regulations are
important as these companies, which collect, store and use the consumer data are at a high risk of
attracting unethical hackers. Today, most of the users have realized the importance of user
privacy and shaping their online behavior accordingly. These companies have also sensed this
trend and emphasize on developing a business model, in which the users have to pay for few
advertisements and a high level of privacy. It is an innovative business growth strategy; however,
the downside of this strategy is that it is a capped growth strategy. It means that the company
cannot grow more than a certain extent. In accordance to the trend, other technological giants
such as Apple are providing solutions to block advertisements in the mobile devices (Taylor,
2015).
Ethical theories
The ethics is the branch of the philosophy, which deals with the morality of action and
designing the standards for right and wrong. The ethical theories are designed to address
different situations and guide correct moral response. It serves as a guidance to deal with the
ethical challenges in complex situations. The ethical theories can be divided into consequential
and non-consequential theories. The consequential ethics determine the morality of a particular

Privacy will hit tipping point in 2016 3
behavior based on the outcomes of the action, whereas the non-consequential ethics evaluate the
ethics of a particular action based on its deviation from the standard values. The deontological
theory is based on this non-consequential ethics whereas the utilitarianism is based on goodwill
of the consequences of a particular action (Mertens & Ginsberg, 2009).
Analysis of the Media Story
The deontological theory states that every human being has some moral duties and he
should abide by it. It analyzes the morality of an action by the action-based rules. Deontology
gives the moral judgement on the basis of whether the actor has complied by his moral duties. It
states that the moral duties are the first priority of a person or an organization. The essence of the
story is that the internet giant companies are moving towards a business model, in which they are
charging money to provide consumer privacy and fewer advertisements. When the theory is
applied to the case, it can be perceived that it is the moral duty of the business organizations to
provide privacy to the consumers. Therefore, this action is completely justified (Mertens &
Ginsberg, 2009). However, while pursuing this policy the companies have to take support of
various advertisements blocking websites. The goal of these websites is to block the unnecessary
advertisements. However, with this collaboration, the companies might bribe the internet
blocking companies to allow their advertisements.
The utilitarianism is another set of ethical theory, which is based on the normative ethical
theory. According to the utilitarianism theory, the morality of an action can be judged by the
utility of the action. It is an ethical theory, which is focused on the consequences of an action,
rather than the standard right or wrong. It can be stated that the payment for privacy abides by
the utilitarianism theory. According to this theory, few advertisements will protect the privacy