Internet Companies
Internet companies like Google need to play their part in keeping the Internet safe and free. When a legitimate business profits from the illegal activities of others in the offline world, it is considered a crime. But today, search companies and payment processors are doing just that.
- Search companies display ads on pages that house stolen content and other illegal activities and share a revenue stream with the website providers.
- Payment companies process transactions related to illegal activities, such as the purchasing of counterfeit goods or illegal prescription drugs.
Like the businesses in our local communities, Google and other Internet companies need to be good corporate citizens, and they need to be held accountable when they don’t live up to legal and civic standards.
Nobody wants companies like Google to police the Internet. But they can do more to help make the Internet safe:
- Use their amazing technologies to better identify websites that are engaging in illegal activity and remove those sites from their search results
- Stop selling ads on—and making money from—websites that are breaking the law
- Work with law enforcement and other members of their industry to identify and fix vulnerabilities in the technological infrastructure of the Internet that criminals can exploit
Just as we should be held accountable as individuals when we don’t do our part to keep our communities free and open, Internet companies that aren’t willing to do more to defend public safety and protect intellectual property should be held accountable.