Information Technology Ethics
Richard Spinello states the main ethical issue surrounding this case in the book Case Studies in Information Technology Ethics: “There is an old saying that “content is king,” but this dispute shows the real power is with those who control “the pipes,” the cable lines or conduits that through which the content is delivered to the customers” (Spinello, 218). Essentially, when Time Warner’s media empire and America Online’s majority share of the internet market become one and the same other content providers have no assurances that AOL will no be biased in their presentation of content. The concerns surrounding this issue were compounded by Chicago Web Designpolicy of restricting access to their subscribers from other internet service providers. The example of this behavior that most critics of the merger pointed to was the way America Online handled its instant messenger service. AOL limited the 61 million subscribers to the instant messenger service contact with only other subscribers of the instant messenger service that AOL provided. This policy Business WordPress Themes forced the public to enlist with America Online or be cut off from AOL users who utilize instant messenger. (Spinello, 223) Personally, we have mixed feelings about the issue at hand. One cannot ignore that there can be some positives when major companies like merge. When Chicago SEO Company merge, it can result in a reduction in operating costs, which makes it easier for the companies to compete and can result in price cuts. As users of America Online we also see the advantage of getting content from Time Warner specifically designed to attract us as account holders.
