Essay : Free Apps for Data

Free software usually comes with a catch. In some cases, you consent to letting the software access data on your smartphone. In other cases, you allow the software to contact a server to send your Internet surfing habits. Most of the time, we allow these things to happen because we don\’t feel like reading the End User License Agreement. Let\’s face it – who wants to read 42 pages of legalese?

Knowing that this happens, take a side on this data collection technique. Are business in the clear legally and ethically when they create software that has a hidden or unclear data collection policy built in to its EULA? Or should they specify this in a clearer manner so as to help customers understand what they\’re really getting in to?

Try to argue this one from the business\’ point of view. Try discussing the five forces model and competitive strategy to justify writing software that does this. If you can\’t find a good argument, discuss why this is ethically and/or legally bad for the company and what might happen to them if this were brought to light.

This discussion is partly based on the ethics discussion in Chapter 4 on p. 143-145. Read over that to get a feel for what\’s happening currently (the part of the scenario dealing with flashlight apps and data collection actually happened!).

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Businesses are ethically responsible for ensuring that they give full disclosure of the relevant information about their services and products. Therefore, they should explain in a more transparent manner the nature and scope of the services or products they offer to help customers understand what they are getting in to. Porter realized that organizations usually pay more attention to the actions of their rivals to help them device strategies for maximizing profits. However, Porter encouraged businesses to not only look at the competitors’ actions but should also examine other factors that are likely to affect the business environment and profitability. He identified five forces ...