Google Shakes Up Its ‘TGIF’ — and Ends Its Culture of Openness

“It’s not working in its current form,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said of what was once the hallmark of Google culture. In 2020, he declared, the meetings would be limited to once a month, and they would be more constrained affairs, sticking to “product and business strategy.” Don’t Be Evil has changed to Don’t Ask Me Anything. From a report: With…

How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results

Long-time Slashdot reader walterbyrd shared this report on “arguably the most powerful lines of computer code in the global economy,” the Google algorithms that handle 3.8 million queries every single minute. But though Google claims its algorithms are objective and autonomous, the Wall Street Journal reports Google “has increasingly re-engineered and interfered with search results to a far greater degree than…

Google Asks Three Mobile Security Firms To Help Scan Play Store Apps

Google announced today that it partnered with three private cyber-security firms — ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium — to start a new project called the App Defense Alliance. From a report: The purpose of this new project, Google said, was to unify malware and threat detection engines and improve the security scans that Android apps go through before being published on the…

Waymo Complains California’s Government Says Its Robotaxi Service Must Be Free For Now

“Waymo wants to deploy a robotaxi service for the general public in parts of California as soon as possible,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “But that’s unlikely, the company says, because California says it has to offer the service for free.” Last year, the California Public Utilities Commission allowed driverless “robotaxi” pilot programs in the state but banned permit-holders from charging…

Google Accused of Creating Spy Tool To Squelch Worker Dissent

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Google employees are accusing the company’s leadership of developing an internal surveillance tool that they believe will be used to monitor workers’ attempts to organize protests and discuss labor rights. Earlier this month, employees said they discovered that a team within the company was creating the new tool for the custom Google Chrome…

Google Employees Explain How They Were Retaliated Against For Reporting Abuse

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Sexual harassment, gaslighting, broken promises of promotion, gender-based discrimination, and racism. Motherboard has obtained a document written by 45 different Google employees alleging they’ve experienced of all the above. The document lays bare how working at Google — a company whose motto was once “don’t be evil” — has become really hard for…