- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- news@lemmy.world
Google fired 28 employees in connection with sit-in protests at two of its offices this week, according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge. The firings come after 9 employees were suspended and then arrested in New York and California on Tuesday.
In a memo sent to all employees on Wednesday, Chris Rackow, Google’s head of global security, said that “behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it.”
He also warned that the company would take more action if needed: “The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing. If you’re one of the few who are tempted to think we’re going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again. The company takes this extremely seriously, and we will continue to apply our longstanding policies to take action against disruptive behavior — up to and including termination.”
“How dare you protest genocide. The majority of our employees shut the fuck up about us supporting genocide, get in line or get cut.”
“Don’t be evil”
Don’t beavil. And they haven’t yet.
They dropped that one quietly a couple of years ago. I guess around the time they started doing contracts for Israel?
Edit: just Googled what this project nimbus is all about, and it sounds like basically building data centres in Israel, which is fair enough, but it ends with this titbit:
The terms Israel set for the project contractually forbid Amazon and Google from halting services due to boycott pressure.[7][8] The tech companies are also forbidden from denying service to any particular government entities.[8]
That’s not something you put in your contract unless you’re planning on doing something that’ll attract boycotts
I mean for many (myself included) setting up shop in Israel is reason enough for boycotting an organisation.
That’s not something you put in your contract unless you’re planning on doing something that’ll attract boycotts
Would genocide count? 🤔
Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be enough for most western countries.
They didn’t drop it. It was still in the handbook in 2022 when I signed it.
People like to claim they dropped it: but it’s still there.
Now since I was laid off in the mass 2023 wave I can’t speak to it’s current state but I’d be shocked if they removed it.
It was dropped by alphabet from their handbook.
Almost 10 years ago iirc.
My guy I literally worked there and signed the employee handbook. Don’t Be Evil was right before you signed if I remember right. Regardless: it is 100% in the handbook.
Alphabet <> Google.
The parent company, Alphabet, removed it from the handbook. I couldn’t tell you if they put it back in, but Alphabet removed it about 10 years ago.
This is not some conspiracy theory, it was released, they replaced that section of the handbook.
ETA:
Following Google’s corporate restructuring under the conglomerate Alphabet Inc. in October 2015, Alphabet took “Do the right thing” as its motto, also forming the opening of its corporate code of conduct.[1][2][3][4][5] The original motto was retained in Google’s code of conduct, now a subsidiary of Alphabet. Between 21 April and 4 May 2018, the motto was removed from the code of conduct’s preface and retained in its last sentence.[6]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don’t_be_evil
https://www.engadget.com/2015/10/02/alphabet-do-the-right-thing/
https://www.fastcompany.com/3056389/why-google-was-smart-to-drop-its-dont-be-evil-motto
http://time.com/4060575/alphabet-google-dont-be-evil/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-dont-be-evil/254019/
Your memory of the Google handbook isn’t really relevant.
The original motto was retained in Google’s code of conduct, now a subsidiary of Alphabet. Between 21 April and 4 May 2018, the motto was removed from the code of conduct’s preface and retained in its last sentence.[6]
The original motto was retained.
You’re mistaking “it’s not the first line” with “it got removed”
Linking news articles from click bait sites doesn’t help your argument.
Dude.
Please read what I said. ALPHABET.
ALPHABET HAS A DIFFERENT HANDBOOK. I have said this multiple times now.
And I will say again - Alphabet copied the handbook in restructuring then removed it.
The Google handbook IS NOT RELEVANT AT ALL. READ WHAT I WROTE.
Is going on strike considered boycotting?
I guess Google didn’t want to risk finding out.
The tech companies are also forbidden from denying service to any particular government entities.
That includes Palestine, right?
Right?
“but some are more equal than others”
– George OrwellOne more reason to degoogle.
Glad I’ve been slowly moving away from being google centric.
Ok so, “behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it.”
But secretly selling services to a genocidal ethnostate does belong in the Google workplace and will be tolerated? Palestinians just don’t matter if you can you make a dollar off of their death and destruction??
https://time.com/6966102/google-contract-israel-defense-ministry-gaza-war/
Well yeah, Google likes money.
Somebody in this comment section didn’t get the memo
Their new mantra is “be evil”.
Nah, it’s make money. Being evil is just another perk!
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/17/no_tech_for_apartheid_google_israel
the first AI-powered genocide
I’m letting those words sink in
What a wonderful future we are entering.
“don’t be evil”
😎👍 joke’s on them i fired them from my phone
Same here on my PC, switched to Firefox and using duckduckgo.com to search the web
I decided to try out Kagi, I appreciate duckduckgo for privacy but jeez does it suck at being a search engine. Kagi is trying to be a 1:1 google search but without ads and tracking, you may ask how they operate? They charge 10 bucks a month which is a downside I’m willing to take.
That’ll fix it.
I think it will.
Depends what they see as the issue though.
Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made coworkers feel threatened
Maybe… because they feel threatened for themselves and their families?
Every employee is bound by the Software Engineering code of ethics.
So does this mean Google has abandoned this.
and at this point open protests are quixotic AF. sabotage or steal.
Looking for more ideas how to boycott Google.
No longer using Chrome No longer using google search.
Somehow get off Gmail? Android gapps? Delete reviews?
There’s FOSS apps from fdroid, fairemail or protonmail or something of the sort, CalyxOS or GrapheneOS (ironically targets the Pixel series primarily, though they sometimes sell these at a loss around the holiday season).
The Proton suite of apps have 1:1 replacements for the entire Gsuite. Some things are locked behind a subscription (email is fully free), so if you’re not into that there’s NextCloud if you can/want to self-host. Tuta is also a decent Gmail replacement. As for Gapps, there isn’t really any good replacements; MicroG breaks a lot of things and sandboxed google play services is the only other alternative (which is only available on GrapheneOS afaik).
The Proton suite of apps have 1:1 replacements for the entire Gsuite
That’s just not true, they don’t have office applications or video chat. I wish they did though. Also, their storage is pretty expensive.
Their email is pretty good though, and they have a decent VPN service as well.
they don’t have office applications or video chat
Oh right, true. I forget Google has those.
Google Sheets is the last thing really holding my back from abandoning Google. It’s just so convenient, and I’m more comfortable with it than LibreOffice. I like that I can edit things on my phone, which I haven’t found an alternative for.
OnlyOffice
Unpopular opinion but boycotting Google doesn’t work.
Instead, get real inside the house.
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Be such a great Contributor to Google Maps.
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Be a manager of a team.
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Work on critical systems.
Then casually start breaking shit. Woops, didn’t mean to add all this spam to Google maps. Didn’t mean to cancel another service. Didn’t mean to make search shittyer.
And if you do it correctly, you’ll get paid AND nobody will be the wiser since they’re already doing all those things.
LOL
Poor dude doesn’t know google already did this themselves by killing their project teams and bringing a team of summer interns every year to decrease the cloud cost of each app.
They don’t have to worry because they already own the market on all these apps so any competitor can be bought out or is doomed to fail.
That way they can spend all their allocated budget on new ventures like Gemini.
For example Google Maps has sucked total ******* **** for a whole ass decade now, and the people who made Android Auto have a special place for them in FOSS hell.
Poor dude doesn’t know google already did this themselves
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Not that I am a fan of google, but those people signed a contract that prohibits certain behavior, so I cant really blame the company this time.
Google had a “don’t be evil” clause as well.
I wonder if after 2018 when they removed that line, people went, “Finally!” And twirled their evil mustache.
Not everything is legal to prohibit
Protesting on company time is certainly one of those things that’s legal to prohibit.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Some of them occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian until they were forcibly removed by law enforcement.
Last month, Google fired another employee for protesting the contract during a company presentation in Israel.
In a memo sent to all employees on Wednesday, Chris Rackow, Google’s head of global security, said that “behavior like this has no place in our workplace and we will not tolerate it.” You can read the full memo at the bottom of this story.
He also warned that the company would take more action if needed: “The overwhelming majority of our employees do the right thing.
In a response statement, the “No Tech for Apartheid” group behind the protests called Google’s firings a “flagrant act of retaliation.”
“In the three years that we have been organizing against Project Nimbus, we have yet to hear from a single executive about our concerns,” the group wrote in a post on Medium.
The original article contains 303 words, the summary contains 156 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!