LA Police Chief Charlie Beck urges
Google to eliminate a cop-tracking feature of the Waze app. According to Jose
Pagliery, Waze is Google’s traffic app which enables users to view reports of
heavy traffic, road closures, accidents, and police speed traps. Chief Beck
wants Google to get rid of the cop tracker function because he claims that it
is endangering the lives of cops. He reported to Google that because of the app
two police officers were killed.
The Waze app is very useful
for consumers but the question is how much information should civilians have
access to? Should civilians know the whereabouts of police officers? This
creates an ethical dilemma because with the app, civilians will be driving
safer when they know a cop is around. So in essence, we are just teaching
society to only drive safer when they see a cop and when the cop is not there;
they can do whatever they want. Also, another possible issue that is raised is
that does too much information put lives of human beings at risk. In
corporations, for example, we see that one person cannot perform all of the
accounting functions for instance because it is not ethical for one person to
know all of that information. Could the same principal apply here? Is too much
information unethical?
Within this article, we see
two types of ethics, duty-based versus results-based ethics. Per Managerial
Ethics lecture, duty-based ethics uses a sense of moral duty and responsibility
to determine whether or not an act is ethical. Results-based ethics, in
contrast, states that a behavior is ethical if the results are positive and
helpful to society. Google supports results-based ethics in this case. Google
states that people are driving safer with the use of the app and for that
reason the app should not be taken out. Chief Beck uses duty-based ethics. Chief
Beck feels it is his responsibility to push for the app to be removed to save
the lives of cops.
Results-based ethics does not
work in this scenario because ultimately the results obtained using the app are
only temporary. Results are temporary in the sense that people only drive
safely in the presence of a cop. So therefore, results-based ethics do not
apply here. As of now, we did not know if there is a direct correlation between
the app and the murder of the two cops. Duty-based ethics, however, is a more
appropriate selection of the two because it truly causes a person to analyze
their personal ethical code rather than just results being displayed.
Google did not handle this
issue in the correct manner. Currently, Google has not decided to remove the
app. Google should consider removing the app because there is a high probability
that the information could be misused. For instance, instead of using the app
for cop speed traps, the app could be misused by criminals to run away from
cops. Too much information can tempt someone to do something they would not
normally do. Google should remove the app so civilians will learn to always
drive carefully not just when they see a cop in the area.
As mentioned above,
results-based ethics do not provide accurate results to rely upon. Also,
results can change in the long-run which also makes this method of ethics
unstable. Duty-based ethics will cause Google to evaluate their ethics and
consider what is best for members of the community. As a recommendation, Google
should use the Kantian theories when conducting business. Kantian theories
consider respect for the human being to be absolutely necessary (Arnold, 2012) . Google needs to
evaluate if the use of the Waze app will ultimately benefit consumers or will
it just benefit the pocket of Google.
Bibliography
Arnold, B. B. (2012). Ethical Theory and
Business. Pearson Education.
Bishop, J. (2015, January 29). Managerial Ethics
Lecture.
Pagliery, J. (2015, January 28). LA Polic Chief
Claims Google's Traffic App Endangers Cops. Retrieved from CNN:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/28/technology/security/waze-police/index.html?iid=SF_BN_River
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