A Comparative Analysis: Ethical Practices of Major Internet Companies

This report assesses the ethical conduct of major internet companies, including Google, Dell, Apple, and Facebook. The methodology involves a survey to gauge public perception of each company's ethics, followed by an analysis of their ethical codes of conduct. The report highlights key findings from the survey, revealing how respondents rate the companies' ethical standings. It then delves into the ethical policies of each company, examining their commitments to data privacy, employee conduct, and corporate responsibility. Additionally, the report addresses specific ethical concerns and controversies associated with each company, such as data handling by Facebook, labor practices by Apple, and tax practices by Google. The analysis includes a discussion on the Australian tax and ethical behavior. Finally, the report concludes by summarizing the ethical standings of each company and providing an overall evaluation of their ethical performance.

Institution Affiliation(s)

Methodology
Introduction
Ethics is the science of customs or habits of human beings or companies. It is the science of the
habitual conduct of men which results from the formation of will or character. Thus ethics means
the judgment of a person's conduct which generally is based on his or her character. In this paper,
I will be evaluating the different ethical issues surrounding the major internet companies namely
Google, Dell, Apple and Facebook.
What do People Think?
Survey question used: On a scale of 1 to 10, How ethical do you think each of the following
companies is?
The following results were collected from the survey created in SurveyMonkey with the link
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z9CWFYK
The following table summarizes the ethical score of the four companies.
Company Ethical Score
Google 10
Facebook 9
Dell 9
Apple 10

1. Google
Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The
average score for Google is 10 meaning that people believe Google to be completely ethical.
2. Facebook

Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The
average score for Facebook is 9 meaning that people believe Facebook to be ethical. This can be
attributed to the recent summoning of Facebook CEO to the US Congress where he was to
explain how the company is handling data for its users.
3. Dell
Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The
average score for Dell is 9 meaning that people believe Dell to be ethical.
4. Apple

Out of the 10 respondents who took part in the survey, all of them answered this question. The
average score for Apple is 10 meaning that people believe Apple to be ethical. Apple Inc.
objective is to continually be the company that provides computer software and hardware to its
clients globally. The company significantly values its relationship with all stakeholders who have
contributed to its successes. It will continue to plan growth strategies especially where new
supplies and manufacturing entities are available to participate.
Ethical/Code of Conduct Policies
1. Google
“Always remember that we are asking users to trust us with their personal information.
Preserving that trust requires that each of us respect and protect the privacy and security of that
information. Our security procedures strictly limit access to and use of users’ personal
information, and require that each of us take measures to protect user data from unauthorized
access. Know your responsibilities under these procedures, and collect, use, and access user
personal information only as authorized by our Security Policies, our Privacy Policies, and
applicable data protection laws.”
A misconduct in the way a Google employee acts can lead to them facing the disciplinary and
possible termination from their jobs.
2. Facebook
“It is of the utmost importance that all Facebook Personnel treat user data with extreme
sensitivity and caution. Facebook's brand, the trust users put in us, and, quite bluntly, your
employment or other relationship with Facebook, all depend on your exercise of good judgment
and discretion when using tools that allow you to see user information that would otherwise not
be visible to you on the site"

This is an indication that Facebook is completely committed to the fulfillment and wellbeing of
their client. There are huge amounts of individual data inside Facebook that could break
somebody's wellbeing and security and Facebook isn't reluctant to alleviate somebody of their
activity for not treating the user’s security with the most extreme regard.
3. Dell
“How we win” provides the ethical code of conduct guidance for anyone who is involved in
business with Dell technologies. First the company is set to follow all US laws as that is where
its headquarters are. Then all employees globally are set to follow laws of those countries with
Ethical Global guidance sort when local laws conflict with US laws
4. Apple
Apple Inc. regards aligning its activities with the social, economic and environmental
expectation of all its stockholders as extremely vital, because it has become a multibillion dollar
technology related company. Apple Inc. believes that being a good corporate citizen is the right
strategy to pursue at this time, as it will ensure that the company remains a sustainable and going
concern for several years. As such, it has built its ethical values into all its policies and
procedures, to ensure timely gains in the future.
Globalization, has brought enormous pressures to bear on companies, in the sense that they are
compelled to try to attract customers at any cost to obtain short term results. Apple has
recognized that this has made many companies turn blind eyes to good corporate ethics, falling
prey to the competitiveness of the market, instead of investing into the future, where customers
are expected to reward them for their earlier responsible actions.
“Apple is committed to ensuring that working conditions in Apple’s supply chain are safe, that
workers are treated with respect and dignity, and that manufacturing processes are

environmentally responsible. Apple’s suppliers commit, in all of their activities, to operate in full
compliance with the laws, rules, and regulations of the countries in which they operate. This
Supplier Code of Conduct goes further, drawing upon internationally recognized standards, in
order to advance social and environmental responsibility.”
We accept responsibility to ethically inform and educate our employees, independent
contractors, suppliers, stakeholders, and other associates through our communication network, as
this will ensure our values and beliefs remain uncompromised, in the pursuit of growth,
sustainability, and mutual development.
Apple will institute compulsory orientation programs for all its new employees, suppliers, and
associates at all levels, and in all countries to effectively communicate and generate measures of
understandings of the Code of Ethics they are expected to conform to, while performing or
interacting with the company.
Ethical Behaviour
Despite having ethical laws, standards and regulations to follow, it is often the case you find
these internet companies facing one or two lawsuits once in a while to unethical actions.
1. Google
Google for instance was being sued by Viacom Corp. for allowing its YouTube users to post
clips of their TV video shows as their own.
Not once, but in several instances Google have been sued for taking books and reading materials
belonging to writers and putting them up in Google Books as their own without prior
permissions.

2. Facebook
Facebook have been on the news for the wrong reasons. Mishandling of personal data. Facebook
had a data lab that they have entrusted to Cambridge Analytica to do various test. The personal
data belonging to over fifty million Facebook users was being handled by a third party.
However, Facebook CEO came out clearly to explain how they handle data.
3. Dell
Dell have not been on the rim light for being unethical so much. However, there are some
complains that have been registered especially with the customer agents. Customers call with
specific instructs with Dell customer agents promising to do that and then they never meet the
customer instructions fully.
4. Apple
The company shall listen to all the ethical concerns of it stakeholders, and where feasible, use
them to draft new ethical codes of conduct that will enable it to maintain its image as well as
profitability.
Apple Inc. have especially been ruthless to their employees. When auditing they don’t include all
their employees. In 2011, in their China stores, four workers died out of an explosion that
occurred due to aluminum dust. Also, Apple have been accused of using slave labour to achieve
their work.
There have been numerous cries from workers for working long hours daily and without any day
off all week.
Apple will make it its responsibility to educate right across all layers of its organization, to
ensure that its ethical strategy is tailor fit for the business. It will ensure ethics training include

vignette and theories that come from the company situations and experiences, so that all can
more relate to real life issues. Training will focus on specific issues like health and safety, labor
and human rights, proper work ethics, environmental operational impact, quality assurance,
rewards systems, as well as suppliers and employees responsibilities. This will ensure that
overtime the levels of values and motives will be elevated to serve the company well, in its
pursuit of mutually established goals and objectives.
Australian Tax
“Multinational firms such as Google and Facebook are now paying tax in Australia based on
profits earned there instead of shifting income abroad, the government has said.”
All the multinational companies’ including Google, Facebook, Dell and Apple are now remitting
their full taxes to Australian federal government after a crackdown to all multinational
companies.
Summary
All the four companies as I have discussed above seem to be conscious of their ethical
responsibilities. Some companies like Dell seen to have done better in managing their ethical
conducts. Facebook despite being on the headlines for sharing personal data with a third party
came out clearly explaining their move.
I think, if these companies follow their commitment, their ethical statements, then they are
performing well. On the rank I would give all the four companies an eight with Apple Inc.
receiving a seven.

References
Alphabet Investor Relations. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2018, from https://abc.xyz/
Apple Inc. - Code of Conduct (Ethics Statement) - BUS100mlmuseAppleInc. (n.d.). Retrieved May
11, 2018, from https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/bus100mlmuseappleinc/home/apple-
inc-code-of-conduct
Ethics Statement - Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved May 11, 2018, from
https://sites.google.com/a/email.vccs.edu/bus100kdwyer/home/ethics-statement