Open Data and The Public Good: Company Ethics

The company I choose for this assignment is a company most of you probably know pretty well, Apple. A for product company that most of us have probably bought from at least once. Asides from spreading technological growth (if that’s even really their goal), they most seem interested in making money. This is why there was so much controversy for a while that Apple originally didn’t really use its vast wealth to help other people. Apple has a number of social good initiatives, which is interesting because (according to some reports) Steve Jobs was uninterested in giving to charitable causes. However the company did start making donations, and only began a rapid increase after their founder’s passing. By and large their usual methods of philanthropy involve either direct monetary donations or some sort of technology distribution to help impoverished areas with minimal resources, as well as working with the group (PRODUCT)RED to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in Africa and support disaster relief efforts by working with The Red Cross. Outside of these specific examples, the only specific ways they seem to be using big data is by going where it isn’t to deliver technological devices. We’ve talked in calls before about how some companies go to less technologically advanced countries in order to make more generators for big data, whether or not this is Apple’s actual goal is somewhat unclear.

Apple obtains big data through a number of means: cookies collected during web browsing, device tracking technology, double click tracking, AdSense, facial recognition software, profile generation, search queries, and third party methods. The data being collected is coming from ad clicks, browser usage, device specific information gathering, email addresses, IP addresses, ISP, locations, ad names, operating systems, phone numbers, profile information, search queries, third-party connected data, and time and date collections. Apple has been an established company for many years now, and is one of the leading developers of home electronics. In all fairness it seems like only a portion of Apple is really developed towards helping the public good, although credit where credit is due they have greatly improved since their earlier years. It’s more than likely that these acts are philanthropy, even though it’s good they’re happening, are tactical acts to aid in PR, since Apple desperately needs due to other controversies surrounding the company, such as the buildup of electronic pollution in other countries, most of which the products belonging to them.