Of course they are. I think they started working on it when I was still working there. #HowGoogleWorks #BeingEvil #UnionsForAll
When I was working at Google in 2014, I assumed that my laptop was tapped by the company in case I tried to steal anything.
Now what's really creepy and gross would be if Google were spying on their employees' *personal* Gmail accounts, which, again, I would assume that they would try to do if I were trying to organize a union or a strike. #HowGoogleWorks #BeingEvil
Of course I assumed that Microsoft was spying on me when
I worked there before that. Employees have no right to #privacy from their employers where work resources are concerned.
I worked there before that. Employees have no right to #privacy from their employers where work resources are concerned.
Five years ago, an ex-Microsoft employee leaked internal info to a French blogger and he got arrested for it. Microsoft used his personal Hotmail and SkyDrive (now OneDrive) as evidence in the courtroom against him. I remember that story clearly. computerworld.com/article/248883…
"While he worked at Microsoft, Kibkalo allegedly leaked pre-release software updates for Windows RT, the tablet-specific operating system, to a French blogger in July and August 2012, months before its official release. The FBI, which was called into" 1/2
"the case after a Microsoft investigation, also alleged that Kibkalo provided the same blogger with the Activation Server SDK (software development kit), internal-only code to create the activation systems which validate product keys, Microsoft's primary anti-piracy technology."
Obviously if you leak the anti-piracy keys to a blogger, that is an intentional FU to MSFT's business model and they're going to call in the FBI on you.
OTOH, if you're a Google employee trying to set up a labor union, the company will likely secretly spy on you, even illegally.
OTOH, if you're a Google employee trying to set up a labor union, the company will likely secretly spy on you, even illegally.
There are rules about this stuff, written and unwritten. As always, I refer the reader to Cynthia Shapiro's classic "Corporate Confidential" if you need a baseline insight into how corporations think about themselves and what they expect to see from loyal employees.
And for an explanation of the illegal, but impossible to prove, ways that companies get rid of employees who are considered disloyal, or whose loyalty or reliability to the company is simply suspect.
Better to gaslight employees and push them out ("manage them out") than not to.
Better to gaslight employees and push them out ("manage them out") than not to.
BTW, don't steal trade secrets from Google (or any other company). Anthony Levandowski was flying high, but now he may go to prison and is having trouble funding his legal defense. autonews.com/mobility-repor…
He "remains free on $2 million bail while he awaits his trial. He faces as long as a decade in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 if he’s convicted of any of the theft charges in his 33-count indictment. The government is also seeking forfeiture of" proceeds from any theft.
"“The $120 million is not $120 million,” Ramsey said in court, as he explained how the bonus paid by Google has boiled down to a net worth of $72 million after taxes and a divorce. “It’s $120 million pretax, and before the child support settlement,” he said."
"“Yeah, they say a hundred million dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to,” Magistrate Judge Nathanael M. Cousins quipped, a response that drew a smile of appreciation from Levandowski." #WednesdayThoughts
"Uber has disclosed that an arbitration panel this year issued an interim ruling against Levandowski that would require him to pay Google $127 million. The dispute amounts to $GOOG trying to reclaim the bonus it paid him on grounds that he broke a promise not to poach employees."
So he collected a $120 million bonus from Google on the way out (shades of Andy Rubin), but now he's going to have to pay all of that back and then some because he broke his legal agreement with Google not to poach employees, which he demonstrably did. Good going, dude.
Poor, poor Mr. Levandowski. He already lost (based on the article's figures) $48 million of his $120 million bonus to taxes and a divorce / child support, and the rest is tied up in real estate that he can't quickly liquidate.
Now he owes Google $127 million for cheating them.
Now he owes Google $127 million for cheating them.
So he's $48 million in the hole and he has a criminal trial that he has to defend himself in, because of the trade secret theft, which could cost him as much as $5 million or even twice that, if he went to a large corporate firm. And he burned his bridges with both Google & Uber.
BTW, when I signed on to work at Google, I signed a one-year non-poaching agreement after I left the company. Those are legal to enforce in California, unlike the similar non-compete agreements, where you agree not to go to work for a competitor, which are illegal in California.
