Google Fires Four Staffers After Protest, Accusing Them of Data Security Breaches
aristarchus writes:
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.
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