A product manager at Google has sued the company over its allegedly illegal confidentiality rules, which, among other things, prohibit employees from speaking even internally about illegal conduct and dangerous product defects for fear that such statements may be used in lawsuits or sought by the government.
The alleged policies, which are said to violate California laws, restrict employees' right to speak, work or whistle-blow, and include restrictions on speaking to the government, attorneys or the press about wrongdoing at Google or even “speaking to spouse or friends about whether they think their boss could do a better job,” according to a complaint filed Tuesday in the Superior Court of California for the city and county of San Francisco.
“The policies prohibit Googlers from using or disclosing all of the skills, knowledge, acquaintances, and overall experience at Google when working for a new employer," according to the complaint, which alleges that the company’s confidentiality policies are contrary to the California Labor Code, public policy and the interests of the state.
Google’s Global Investigation Team “also relies on ‘volunteers’ to report other employees who might have disclosed any information” about the company, according to the complaint, which paints a picture that is in sharp contrast to the glowing image one usually gets about Google's workplace culture and perks.
Under a program called Stopleaks, Google asks employees to report on “strange things” around them such as anyone asking detailed questions about an employee’s project or job, according to the complaint. Employees are also said to be banned from writing creative fiction such as “a novel about someone working at a tech company in Silicon Valley,” without Google’s approving the book idea and the final draft.
The policies are said to be be intended to control Google’s former and current employees, limit competition, infringe on constitutional rights and block the reporting of misconduct. The complaint goes on to state that the case does not concern Google’s trade secrets, consumer privacy or information that should not be disclosed under the law, but reflects the company’s use of confidentiality and other policies for illegal and improper purposes.
In the lawsuit, first reported by The Information, the employee who has filed anonymously as John Doe, claims that Brian Katz, Google’s director of global investigations, intelligence and protective services, had falsely informed some 65,000 Google employees that the plaintiff was terminated for leaking information to the press, without naming him. Katz and Google used him as scapegoat to ensure that other employees continued to fall in line with the company’s confidentiality polices, according to the complaint, which asks that the employee should not be asked “to self-publish” his name.
In September, the employee had complained to the Labor Workforce and Development Agency, after which Google made an amendment in which it “purported to broaden Googler’s right to discuss pay, hours or other terms of employment and to communicate with government agencies regarding violations of the law,” according to the complaint.
Employees were not informed of the amendment and other policies were not changed, and “in fact, Google’s actual policies and practices remained unchanged,” it added.
The employee has asked the California court for penalties for each of the 12 alleged violations under the Private Attorneys General Act on behalf of himself, the state of California and other Google employees.
Nintendo has confirmed what we all knew was likely – Super Mario Run got a lot of downloads at launch. The company says that the app was downloaded over 40 million times during its first four days on the App Store, which breaks records for Apple’s mobile software shop. Previous third-party estimates suggested the new game was on track to topple Pokémon Go’s previous early performance and approach the 40 million mark, but this official number confirms it.
In a press release issued by Nintendo, the company says that in addition to its top ranking in the “free” chart of the App Store in 140 different global markets (of the 150 where it’s available), it’s also now in the top 10 ranking for best grossing games in 100 different markets.
Apple SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller is quoted in the release, confirming that the game broke a record for App Store downloads during its initial few day of availability. Nintendo closes the record announcement with a note that it believes its achieving its goal of growing the group of customers who are familiar with its IP even further.
The release also notes that Nintendo is making it easier to enjoy all modes as much as possible following the initial purchase, and a recent feature update indeed now allows you to run head-to-head with friends without using tickets, which are normally required for the Toad Rally.
Market analysts would say that the average turnover rate for most smartphones is two years, which is exactly how long most contracts last anyway. That is true even for Google’s Nexus devices. In that sense, the Nexus 4, launched way back in 2012, is way past its due date. But for those still with a perfectly serviceable unit, news of its death has been largely exaggerated. Especially now that there’s a CyanogenMod 14.1 nightly image for it, bringing the nutty goodness of Nougat to the phone. To be clear, this is far from being a “stable” version of Android 7.0 Nougat for the Nexus 4, though CyanogenMod itself has done away with such labels for its rolling releases. The nightly builds, which are cooked, well, nightly, come with no guarantee of stability, which may change daily. But those who own a Nexus 4 hungry from some new dessert, they will most likely take what they can.
The biggest question will be whether it will be worth it for owners to risk running CM 14.1 nightly on their smartphone. The Nexus 4 definitely doesn’t have the hardware to support many of the features introduced in Android 7.0 and the upcoming 7.1. At the very least, the device’s aging hardware might not be able to handle much of those features in the first place. Still, as far as having the latest Android version is concerned, it is one of the only paths available for those who want to live on the cutting edge.
There is, however, no guarantee that the nightly builds will continue ad infinitum. Unlike Cyanogen OS, CyanogenMod development and support for devices is a purely volunteer-based work of love and enthusiasm. Should maintainers for the Nexus 4 branch meet an insurmountable problem, they are likely to drop work on it. Or wait for Android O.
