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Google employees begin walkout over handling of sexual misconduct by executives

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People gather next to the Google office to attend the Google Walkout in Zurich, Switzerland on Nov. 1, 2018.Reuters

Photos of walkouts at a variety of Google offices were posted to social media, including London and Dublin.

By Jason Abbruzzese and Alex Holmes

Google employees in company offices around the world began staging a walkout on Thursday to protest the company’s handling of senior executives accused of sexual misconduct.

The protest was scheduled by organizers to begin at 11:10 a.m. local time for each office, with a Twitter account set up by protest organizers already featuring walkout photos from a variety of locations including Singapore, Tokyo, London, Dublin and others.

The walkout was organized in response to a report by The New York Times published last week that found two senior Google executives had been paid tens of millions of dollars in exit packages after they left the company following allegations of sexual misconduct.

A third senior executive named in the Times article had been allowed to stay at the company but resigned on Tuesday.

The report drew a swift response from Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive officer. That same day, Pichai and Eileen Naughton, the company’s vice president of people operations, sent an email to employees saying that the company was “dead serious” about making sure the company provides “a safe and inclusive workplace. Pichai and Naughton said that the company had fired 48 people without pay for sexual misconduct over the past two years.

That did little to quell growing employee resentment.

“Hundreds of people are demanding structural change, not just inclusive sounding PR,” tweeted Meredith Whittaker on Tuesday, confirming that employees were planning a walkout.

The Times reported on Wednesday that protest organizers expected more than 1,500 employees to participate in the walkout.

A Twitter account, @GoogleWalkout, said that employees were demanding five changes: an end to forced arbitration on cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity, a publicly disclosed sexual harassment transparency report; a new process for reporting sexual misconduct, and to elevate the company’s chief diversity officer to report to the company’s CEO and have them make recommendations to the company’s board of directors.

The group also called for an employee representative to be added to the company’s board.

In London, Google employees said on Twitter that weather forced employees to remain inside, but that people filled the biggest room in the office with more listening in overflow areas.

Marc Cohen, an employee in Google’s London office who participated in the walkout, said he was participating to send a message to the company’s leadership.

“I’m disappointed by some of the things I’ve been reading about and hearing about how complaints have been handled by Google, and I wanted to share my support for people who have to deal with those kind of situations and also as a sign for my own personal dissatisfaction for how Google has handled some of these situations in the past,” Cohen said.

Sam Dutton, who works in Google’s London office, said that the company had been supportive of the protest, which he hoped could inspire change within Google as well as other companies.

“I think there is a change in mood across the world in many different companies, and I hope this will have a positive effect,” Dutton said.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/google-employees-begin-walkout-over-handling-sexual-misconduct-executives-n929696?cid=eml_nbn_20181101

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Google changes doodle to mark Armenia’s 27th anniversary of independence

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In celebration of Armenia’s national holiday, Independence Day, the google doodle is also hoisting the country’s animated flag and has been changed to national colors of orange, red and blue. Upon clicking the doodle, search results about the Armenian Independence Day opens.

To note, Armenia marks the 27th anniversary of Independence on September 21. Google has periodically changed its doodle to mark the historic date.

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Google fined €4.3 billion by EU regulator

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The EU hits Google with a massive fine for freezing out rivals of its Android mobile phone system. The ruling could further enflame tensions between Brussels and Washington, which are already at a low point.

After a three-year investigation, the European Union on Wednesday imposed a €4.3 billion ($5 billion) fine on Google for breaching the bloc’s competition rules with its Android operating system.

The company stands accused of abusing its dominant position in the market by making tie-ups with phone makers like South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Huawei, therefore blocking rivals and hindering competition. The company has been given 90 days to end this practice or face more fines.

The European Commission has long complained that Google requires manufacturers to pre-install its search engine and Google Chrome browser on phones and set Google Search as the default, as a condition of licensing some Google apps like Google Play.

“Today the Commission has decided to fine Google €4.34 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told a press conference in Brussels, adding “Google has engaged in illegal practices to cement its dominant market position in internet search.”

According to European Union rules, Google could have been fined up to 10 percent of parent company Alphabet’s annual revenue, which hit $110.9 billion in 2017.

The long-awaited decision comes as fears of a transatlantic trade war mount due to President Donald Trump’s surprising decision to increase tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports and comes just one week before European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker is due to travel to the US for sensitive talks on the tariffs dispute.

Standing strong

Vestager who is from Denmark, has been very outspoken and targeted a series of Silicon Valley giants like Apple and Amazon in her four years as the bloc’s antitrust chief, winning praise in Europe but angering Washington.

Android is the world’s most-used smartphone operating system and runs on about 80 percent of mobile devices worldwide. The open-source software is provided to manufacturers for free, while Google derives revenue from advertising displayed in its apps.

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Google honors Fridtjof Nansen – a friend of Armenians

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Google honors Fridtjof NansenGoogle Doodle is celebrating what would have been the 156th birthday of Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, political activist and humanitarian, who went to great lengths to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide when the killings were being perpetrated by the Ottoman government.

In 1924, Nansen was commissioned by the League of Nations to tackles the issue of the Armenian refugees following the Genocide between 1915 and 1923. But long before that Nansen made a proposal at the first session of the League to accept Armenia as a member, stressing that Armenians needed help more than ever.

Starting from 1925, Nansen devoted much effort to helping Armenian refugees – those displaced by the Genocide who had miraculously managed to survive the slaughter. His goal was to eventually return refugees to Soviet Armenia.

Nansen kept visiting refugee camps, and after a trip to Soviet Armenia, he proposed that the League of Nations finance the irrigation of 36,000 hectares of land which would allow the deployment and employment of 15,000 people. Although the plan failed, Nansen did become one of the heroes of the Armenian people.

In total, about 320,000 people survived the Genocide to obtain asylum in various countries using Nansen passports.

The Nansen passport is an international document that certifies the identity of the holder, and was first issued by the League of Nations for refugees without citizenship.

Upon his return to his homeland, the Norwegian wrote the book “Across Armenia”, full of sympathy and respect for the Armenian people.

“If nations could (…) settle their possible differences, they would easily be able to establish a lasting peace” – the words of the great humanitarian who inspired generations of compassionate people around the world in the decades that followed.

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Google Earth markings indicate Azerbaijan shootings at Armenia settlements Video

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YEREVAN. – Results of the fact-finding which were conducted by the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, and his staff—and at Baghanis, Voskevan, Voskepar and Koti border villages in Tavush Province—have been posted on a common access map.

The respective Google Earth markings indicate the Armenian civilian settlements which the Azerbaijani armed forces targeted—the houses, buildings, and constructions that were fired at—from April to June, the Ombudsman’s office informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The fact-finding results were presented in Armenian and English.

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Google unlinking Google+ from YouTube

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gg.thumbGoogle has revealed plans to sideline its social network Google+ by changing the way users log in to its products and services, the BBC reports.

It said it would no longer require users to sign up to Google+ to post comments to products such as YouTube.

Brad Horowitz, who manages Google’s photos and sharing services, announced the changes in a blog on Monday.

One expert told the BBC that some YouTube creators had reacted to the news with “glee”.

Google had been criticized by YouTube stars over its attempt to integrate Google+ with the video sharing site.

Many argued Google had attempted to integrate Google+ with the more successful YouTube platform to give the struggling social network a boost.

“The initial uproar was just insane. There were songs made about Google+ and how much people disliked it,” said Alex Brinnand, managing editor YouTube magazine TenEighty.

“There was an overriding feeling that we were already swamped with other social media platforms, and people felt that they were forced into the deal.”

Mr Horowitz confirmed that Google+ integration with other websites would slowly be rolled back.

“In the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google,” he said.

He later made additional comments on his own Google+ page, in which he admitted that requiring people to register on Google+ to post comments on YouTube since November 2013 had been a “controversial” decision.

“We want to formally retire the notion that a Google+ membership is required for anything at Google… other than using Google+ itself,” he added.

YouTube clarified that people who were happy with the integration would not have to take any action, but an option to unlink a YouTube account from Google+ would be introduced.

Reaction to the news had been greeted with “glee” by some YouTube video bloggers, said Mr Brinnand.

“For many creators this feel like it’s been a long time coming. People have been rooting for this to happen,” he said.

“People felt like they were forced into joining Google+ and be active on it, and that’s not something they accepted.

“When Google made the announcement on Monday, I could feel a collective sigh of relief. It’s almost as though Google has given up the fight, it has let go.

“But at least it shows Google is listening.

“There’s sometimes a presumption that YouTube doesn’t listen to creators, but now it really had.

“This could be a turning point for the company,” he said.

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#armeniangenocidedoodle social network users urge Google to place special doodle on April 24 2015

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google-doodleYerevan, as we approach the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, social network users are urging Google to place a special doodle on april 24, 2015. with that doodle and the #armeniangenocidedoodle hashtag, users wish to let the world know about one of the dark pages of world history. the creator of the new doodle is web designer, programer Vanad Mkrtchyan.

“since Google is currently the main source of information for everyone, I simply wanted to let the international community to know about that dark page in the history through the doodle. however, it turn out that it is not easy. Google views this as very political, and thats why it hasn’t placed the doodle to this day”      Mkrtchyan mentioned in an interview with ArmenPress.

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Google says Turkey intercepting its Web domain

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Google says Turkey has been intercepting its Internet domain, redirecting users to other sites in the latest battle between Ankara and Web giants.        In a n_64358_4weekend post on Google’s security blog, software engineer Steven Carstensen said the company has received “several credible reports and confirmed with our own research that Google’s Domain Name System (DNS) service has been intercepted by most Turkish ISPs (Internet Service Providers).”        Carstensen said the DNS server “tells your computer the address of a server it’s looking for, in the same way that you might look up a phone number in a phone book.”
“Imagine if someone had changed out your phone book with another one, which looks pretty much the same as before, except that the listings for a few people showed the wrong phone number,” he added.        “That’s essentially what’s happened: Turkish ISPs have set up servers that masquerade as Google’s DNS service.”
The news came just days after Turkey banned YouTube after the Google-owned video-sharing website was used to spread damaging leaked audio files from a state security meeting debating possible military action in Syria.        Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan angrily lashed out at his political opponents for leaking the recording.        Earlier this month, Turkey’s telecommunications authority blocked access to the US social network Twitter under orders from Erdogan after opposition members used it to post telephone recordings implicating him in a major corruption scandal.
March/31/2014

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Turkish officials reach for YouTube’s joystick (Reporters Without Borders has previously lambasted Turkey for claiming to be democratic while “arbitrarily censoring content” online)

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Vids posted in Google’s vault now tightly curbed by Ankara laws
By Kelly Fiveash, Networks Correspondent • Get more from this author
Posted in Media, 3rd October 2012 13:01 GMT

Google has given in to demands from Turkey to operate YouTube under a Turkish web domain, thus allowing the country’s officials to patrol its content and the country’s courts to throw out whatever is deemed objectionable.

As noted by Reuters, the move not only means that Ankara can exercise more rigid control over the material published on Mountain View’s video-sharing website but that the company will now be required to pay taxes to the Turkish government.

For several years now, Turkey has repeatedly blocked and then reinstated YouTube over rows involving some of the content posted on the site, which has included a naughty clip of a Turkish politician in a hotel room with a female party member and a another vid that apparently flung insults at the country’s founding father.

The testy relationship between Turkey and Google – which in the past has declined to remove contentious material from YouTube because it hadn’t been found to infringe anyone’s copyright – looks as though it’s finally settling down after the search and ad giant agreed to concessions with government officials in Ankara.

YouTube blackouts in Turkey had been commonplace because the country’s law states that prosecutors can seek a court-ordered shutdown of any website deemed liable to incite suicide, paedophilia, drug usage, obscenity, prostitution, or the aforementioned attacking of the memory of the republic’s founding father.

From now on in, the site will operate under the “com.tr” domain, Ankara’s transport and communications minister Binali Yildirim said.

He described the change as “an important development”. The politician added that that Turkey had, over the years, made it clear to internet companies that if they wanted to operate in the country, they also needed to be “resident here”.

What this means is that Google, which will now pay taxes in Turkey, will be subjected to implementing court decisions and agreeing to kill content deemed “objectionable”, Yildirim said.

It’s a move that will undoubtedly worry freedom of expression and human rights advocates.

Google said in a brief statement that “locally relevant content” would now be served up to netizens in Turkey who access the company’s video-sharing site. It failed to mention the political opposition YouTube has faced in Turkey.

Reporters Without Borders has previously lambasted Turkey for claiming to be democratic while “arbitrarily censoring content” online. The same organisation released a statement on Tuesday about the current situation in Brazil, where YouTube videos have been blocked by Google following pressure from politicians in the Latin American country. ®

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