from the dont-pick-a-fight-with-the-GOOG dept.
Google has terminated four employees for allegedly sharing sensitive information after weeks of internal dissent related to the mistrust of leadership. At least two of the employees were at the center of recent worker protests in San Francisco.
In a memo sent to staffers on Monday, three members of Google's Security and Investigations Team wrote that the four workers were fired after investigations into their behavior concluded that they were engaged in wrongdoing.
"There's been some misinformation circulating about this investigation, both internally and externally," according to the memo, titled "Securing our data." "We want to be clear that none of these individuals were fired for simply looking at documents or calendars during the ordinary course of their work. To the contrary, our thorough investigation found the individuals were involved in systematic searches for other employees' materials and work."
Google confirmed the memo, which was first reported by Bloomberg. The company declined to comment further or confirm which individual employees were terminated. But Rebecca Rivers, who previously spoke out about Google's contracts with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, tweeted she was one of them. Last week, a group of 20 Google employees in San Francisco protested the interrogation of Rivers and another employee, Laurence Berland, who had been placed on sudden and indefinite administrative leave for allegedly sharing sensitive information.
Related Stories
Google workers fired amid organization efforts file retaliation complaint:
Four former employees who say Google fired them in retaliation for their efforts to organize co-workers are planning legal action against the company. The workers allege the tech giant violated US labor law.
[...] The employees continued:
It's clear that [Google's] draconian, pernicious, and unlawful conduct isn't about us. It's about trying to stop all workplace organizing. Google wants to send a message to everyone: if you dare to engage in protected labor organizing, you will be punished. They count on the fear, the sadness, and the anger that we are all feeling to stop us all from exercising our rights, and to chill all attempts to hold one of the most powerful organizations in history accountable for its actions.
[...] Google denies that the employees were fired in retaliation for any organizing activity. "We dismissed four individuals who were engaged in intentional and often repeated violations of our longstanding data security policies, including systematically accessing and disseminating other employees' materials and work," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "No one has been dismissed for raising concerns or debating the company's activities."
Previously:
Google Fires Four Staffers After Protest, Accusing Them of Data Security Breaches
Kathryn Spiers says Google terminated her after she created a browser tool to notify employees of their organizing rights.
[...] Back in September, Google reached a settlement with the NLRB over earlier alleged violations of federal labor law. Under the settlement, Google was required to post a list of employee rights in its Mountain View headquarters.
[...] So when Google hired a consulting company known for its anti-union work, Spiers wrote a notification that would appear whenever Google employees visited the firm's website. The notification stated that "Googlers have the right to participate in protected concerted activities." That's a legal term of art for worker organizing efforts. It also included a link to the worker rights notification mandated by the NLRB settlement.
[...] Two weeks later, on December 13, Spiers was fired.
[...] The complaint argues that her firing was an "attempt to quell Spiers and other employees from asserting their right to engage in concerted protected activities."
Previous stories:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/12/04/0029250
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/11/26/1411249
Seems like a pattern of abuse to me. Just not necessarily by the employees.
Employers can ban employees from using work email for personal purposes, including union organizing, the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Monday.
[...] Federal labor law protects employees' right to organize without interference from employers. That includes a limited right to engage in organizing activities in the workplace.
[...] Labor-rights advocates have long argued that this principle should extend to workplace email systems. They point out that email can be one of the most efficient ways for workers to contact one another and discuss workplace issues. And they note that the costs to employers from added email use is negligible.
[...] The latest ruling focuses on the casino operator Caesars Entertainment, which has broad policies prohibiting employees from using its email systems for personal use.
[...] The law merely requires that workers be given some reasonable means of communicating with one another, the board held. The law already protects the rights of workers to communicate via face-to-face conversations and the distribution of literature. That gives workers sufficient opportunities to communicate to satisfy the requirements of labor law, the board ruled.
[...] The board's lone Democrat, Lauren McFerran, dissented from the ruling, arguing that the majority had misinterpreted the law. She argued that property rights weren't relevant to the case because Caesars had already granted its employees access to the email system.
Additional Source:
Shortly after Google staffers engaged in the largest mass walkout at any tech firm in the United States, the company quietly lobbied the National Labor Relations Board in the hopes it would roll back a decision that safeguarded the only way protesters were able to organize that action as quickly as they did: email. Unfortunately, Google's hope has become a reality.
https://gizmodo.com/disastrous-nlrb-ruling-adds-another-hurdle-for-tech-wor-1840491764
Previous Stories:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/12/17/1948215
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/12/04/0029250
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/11/26/1411249
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @06:50PM (19 children)
They always turn on each other eventually, the constant victim mentality demands it.
Btw, can you use Google to name a single person who flew or sailed around Antarctica, strange huh?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:33PM (18 children)
Umm.... ? Reason for why that search would be difficult or otherwise?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:55PM (17 children)
So google gave you name? I doubt it. Don't you think it is strange that in 2020 nobody is being credited with that achievement?
(Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:24PM (9 children)
James Cook. It was James Cook, and Google was happy to tell me all about it.
Richard Byrd was the first to fly over the South Pole. Google also told me about that.
If I search the term "Flat Earth Antarctica ice wall" I do get a whole host of different results however.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:42PM (8 children)
James Cook? Which of these look like a circumnavigation to you? https://historical-map.blogspot.com/2014/09/voyages-of-captain-cook.html [blogspot.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:11PM (3 children)
The green one. [blogs.bl.uk]
Why be coy? Say what you really mean.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:33PM (2 children)
I would say that both the green and the red look like circumnavigations, only the blue one didn't.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @02:30AM (1 child)
So you can circumnavigate something you never even saw? Then might as well say magellan did it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @07:22AM
That's often one of the intentions when circumnavigating something... ;)
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Tuesday November 26 2019, @10:42PM (3 children)
I'm not sure the point being made here either. I don't use google but I tested it with this search "person who circumnavigated antarctica".
James Cook is the first link. Then polarcruises.com apparently has a history blurb mentioning Cook, then wikipedia's "list of antarctic expeditions", followed by wikipedia's "list of circumnavigations". Fifth is a guinessbook article about the first circumnavigation of antarctic in a sailboat by some Russian dude (I presume by sailboat they mean a little one, not one like Cook's). #6 is a link to australiageographic.com.au story about Lisa Blair, first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica. After that, a story from noaa.gov about saildrone, the first drone to circumnavigate Antarctica. The next link is also about that afformentioned drone. Then after that, Randall Reeves apparently is the first person to circumnavigate BOTH the American and Antarctic continents solo in one season. And then we are back to a James Cook link and the end of page one.
Those results don't seem egregious to me in any way. I'm not really understanding what the AC's beef is, unless it is the lack of aviation results.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @03:56AM (2 children)
Look at the map of his voyages, he wasn't even close to antarctica during these supposed circumnavigations. Sometimes not even in the same hemisphere.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday November 27 2019, @06:21PM (1 child)
True or not, the histories that have been written make the claim and google is just returning what others say.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @07:01PM
Cook never made that claim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:26PM (6 children)
"first circumnavigation of antarctica" returns James Cook, so what was your point again? I assume you are complaining because there was recently an autonomous circumnavigation which is in the news.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:47PM
This is all I found on Google: https://sites.google.com/site/jamescookvoyagemapvcw/ [google.com]
Ddg showed me some maps of three voyages, none were circumnavigation of anything but New Zealand.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:51PM (4 children)
Is his point that us.google.com doesn't return James Cook because he is a dead white man?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:13PM (3 children)
I suspect his point is that no-one can circumnavigate Antarctica because it is the far edge of our flat earth, but the other A/C is being a bit coy about it.
If you feel like going down a rabbit hole, search for "flat earth ice wall".
(Score: 3, Redundant) by aristarchus on Wednesday November 27 2019, @12:20AM (1 child)
Threadjacking, pure and simple.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @12:45AM
Takes one to know one, eh starchy?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @04:22PM
Tell them to go take a picture of it and show me.
(Score: 2, Touché) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday November 26 2019, @06:52PM (5 children)
So will people decide they are anti-google or anti-union here?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:39PM
'meh, I've not researched Unions enough to have a good opinion. Google on the other, is the least worst of the phone OSes, the e-mail provider of choice, and the browser I avoid like the plague. If I was slightly more paranoid, I'd be rolling my own e-mail, but I'm just not going to do that. Also, when using Android, I may as well have gmail as well. Would be nice, if Google was a bit more "do no evil" and a lot less politically correct.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:07PM (1 child)
Why not anti-google and pro-union?
As an aside, the TFS was a bit vague, referencing only "activism" -- the linked article didn't make it clear, the word "union" isn't even in that article. The link "protested" returned a 403 forbidden error. The link "blog" however did lead to an article indicating that this was a union busting effort. It would be nice of TFSs didn't assume complete familiarity and provided a little background rather than resort to vague terms like "activism".
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday November 27 2019, @03:22PM
I am pretty sure pro-union is not an option for most of the libertarians around here.
It is Bloomberg, so I felt that the article specifically avoided the word.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 27 2019, @02:53PM
I'm not anti-union. I've always figured that all bottom-rung and near-bottom-rung employees have more in common with people working next to them doing a similar job than they could ever have with the suits who get paid big bucks to walk around describing how we need to reprioritize the action items to maximize synergies.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 28 2019, @03:11AM
How about neither? I'm just anti-SJW and think Google did the smart thing getting rid of problematic troublemakers perpetually looking to be offended. It did take them longer than I thought it would for people who are supposedly the smartest in the world but eventually they did the math and got the right answer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:13PM (17 children)
Google has presented a hip college-campus like atmosphere to the outside world
and have always been paranoid security fascists on the inside
(Score: 3, Funny) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:40PM (1 child)
Surely you mean hypocrites, unless some of them at Google are water horses too...
Respect Authorities. Know your social status. Woke responsibly.
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:46PM
How else are they supposed to play water polo?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:45PM (13 children)
Those traits aren't in conflict. College campuses are chock full of wannabe fascists nowadays. The only real differences are the brownshirts wear black and white men are the class they've chosen to declare subhuman and blame all their problems on instead of Jews.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:23PM
So misguided. They should blame both the whities and the jews.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:09PM (11 children)
Regarding your sig, wouldn't goth be more logical as a progenitor of emo? Not quite sure what millenials did with punk thogh.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:16PM (10 children)
Millenials did nothing with punk.
Boomers co-opted punk and turned it into bland, corporate rock.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday November 26 2019, @11:42PM (6 children)
This is also true. Green Day.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 27 2019, @12:54AM (5 children)
Oh gods, I was actually thinking about how the Sex Pistols wound up with no money, despite kind of, almost inventing punk. But yeah, Green Day. Blah.
I listened to London Calling the other day, coincidentally, and I had forgotten how good it really is. Not many double albums have no weak songs,
although you could argue that "Revolution Rock" on side four is not that great. The rest are amazing though.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday November 27 2019, @01:21AM (4 children)
That actually sounds exactly how punk should be.
I've been in more of a Misfits and Black Flag mood lately myself but, yeah, you can't go wrong with the Sex Pistols.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 27 2019, @02:27AM (3 children)
I am not really familiar with the Misfits, but Black Flag were pretty cool.
Don't tell anybody, but I actually think the Sex Pistols were a bit shit. As far as I can tell they wrote about 5 good songs, and none after they sacked Glenn Matlock, who might have been the only talent in the band.
I borrowed a Public Image LTD album off someone once, but it was just John Lydon masturbating.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday November 27 2019, @02:55AM (2 children)
Punk ain't exactly supposed to be "good" though. As a general rule, the better the musicians are, the less punk the music is. The main exception I'd make there is Social Distortion. Mostly what it's supposed to be is pissed off in a way you can relate to.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 27 2019, @07:54PM (1 child)
I don't disagree at all.
Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind, as when I wrote that comment I was enjoying "Tales from Topographic Oceans" by Yes, which is about as far from punk as it is possible to get.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 29 2019, @02:50AM
Two words:Tiny Tim.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @12:45AM
Was früher Punk war, ist heute Alt-Right [www.srf.ch].
Oh, look, an aristarchus sub came in handy, for once. Good thing janrinok censored him!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 27 2019, @03:05PM (1 child)
You can replace "punk" with most any genre you want: Country, grunge, alternative, hip-hop, R&B, electronica, metal, even bluegrass and folk to an extent. The suits have decided that bland, corporate rock using 4 chords [youtube.com] is what sells, and they want to maximize sales. They've never given a damn about expression, art, etc.
The main exception is classical, and that has an entirely different set of problems, mostly because of the attempt to make it look all classy and refined with tuxes and smooth playing when Beethoven was punk as all get out and should be played that way.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 27 2019, @07:58PM
Quite right. I think of Taylor Swift, Beyonce and all those chart acts as producing Big Macs.
The record companies love it, as it is the same thing every time, and they know how to sell it, but there is nothing creative about it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 26 2019, @10:06PM
Same with Apple and other big tech companies.
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/daughter-apple-engineer-fired-posted-video-iphone/story?id=50811044 [go.com]
I guess with Microsoft you get "trying to be hip" instead.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:43PM (2 children)
In the end, progressives compete to see who can be more progressive. Meanwhile, they forget that a company is not a democracy, and they are not in charge.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:44PM (1 child)
I'm pretty sure you meant outdoing each other, because the other meaning is something entirely different.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @12:09AM
Maybe he intentionally meant both?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:46PM
Employed? Signed an employment contract within the last 15 years? Read carefully, the release of any information whatsoever which makes the company look bad is a data security breach. They don't need to fire you for that, employment at will has that covered.
Google is (and about 10,000 other employers are) large enough to have a well trained whistleblower containment legal team. Whatever protections these ex-employees might have under whistleblower laws, there are plenty of countermoves to neutralize them.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @07:56PM (1 child)
Misogynerd stupidity in this comment section is TOO DAMN HIGH!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 26 2019, @10:07PM
Elong Musky Accuses Tesla Employee of Being a Union Agitator [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:07PM (4 children)
you poke around in gov dealings too much and they might just "barret brown", or worse, "aaron swartz" your ass. fucking pigs!
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday November 26 2019, @08:58PM (3 children)
The Aaron Swartz case was tragic, but he essentially brought it about on himself. Yes, the prosecution seemed to have used very heavy handed tactics to try and coerce a confession / plea bargain. That should have been addressed, but Aaron Swartz apparently couldn't take the pressure. His story seems like it would be more of a reason to promote getting help for people considering suicide than anything else. Certainly, not promoting the scraping of entire database sets with likely intent for redistribution. While, I may disagree with Copyright laws, I still abide by them. I'd be happy to help get those laws changed, but so far our options have been quite poor when voting for President.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:12PM (2 children)
If I recall correctly, the charges carried something around a century of time. To charge him with that sort of weight was neither necessary nor moral, but to apply unnecessary immoral force is the purpose of our government. I don't blame Swartz for buckling under that load.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:43PM
According to wikipedia it was up to 50 years or thereabouts, which was quite insane. Young and dumb he may have been, but he wasn't attempting murder.
This is for convicted first degree murder:
https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/first-degree-murder-penalties-and-sentencing.html [findlaw.com]
This is for attempted murder:
https://www.attorneys.com/homicide/attempted-murder-charges-and-penalties [attorneys.com]
What he attempted to do, certainly was less awful than attempted murder or actual murder. The insane # of years tacked on should be unconstitutional, if it isn't already.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @11:01PM
For what was essentially a copyright infringement case. Aaron was lazy. He should have shot somebody, he'd have gotten less time.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by jasassin on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:05PM (4 children)
You got a coosh job at Google and enough money to live in San Francisco, but you still gotta bitch. FUCK YOU.
I hope they get blacklisted so bad Mcdonalds won't hire them. Then they'll wake up and smell the coffee... oh wait they can't afford their Starbucks quad long shot grande in a venti cup half calf double cupped no sleeve salted caramel mocha latte with 2 pumps of vanilla substitute 2 pumps of white chocolate mocha for mocha and substitute 2 pumps of hazelnut for toffee nut half whole milk and half breve with no whipped cream extra hot extra foam extra caramel drizzle extra salt add a scoop of vanilla bean powder with light ice well stirred.
No sympathy whatsoever.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:47PM
But what if they can't afford the gender reassignment surgery they were saving up for? Oh, the tragedy...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Freeman on Tuesday November 26 2019, @09:47PM
Now I know why I don't like Starbucks. 'bah, who am I kidding, it's overpriced coffee and only people with more money than sense buy their coffee from them. Get you a can of Cappacino mix and whip you up something, it'll be better than Starbucks and 50x cheaper.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 26 2019, @10:10PM
I don't think I have the patience (or rage) to write a sentence like that.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 28 2019, @07:32PM
I don't understand what they did to make you so angry. Even if the staffers were stupid, Google deserves to burn to the ground to begin with. We should have privacy laws so strict that companies like Google simply cease to exist.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @11:04PM (2 children)
google having a problem with somebody aggregating other peoples data without consent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 26 2019, @11:14PM (1 child)
Funny and so true.
But if I pulled that trick at my current job I would be locked out of the build by lunch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @01:13AM
start a corporation. Then when you get caught the corporation gets fined and you can go live in bermuda.