More than two dozen Dropbox employees say they’ve witnessed or experienced gender discrimination at the company, an investigation by news outlet VentureBeat has found. From a report: In December 2020, a source familiar with the matter sent VentureBeat a document containing anonymous interviews with 16 current and former Dropbox employees who allege gender discrimination at the cloud computing company. The report…
Tag: harassment
Google Workers Unionize, Escalating Tension With Management
Employees of Google and parent company Alphabet announced the creation of a union on Monday, escalating years of confrontation between workers and management of the internet giant. From a report: The Alphabet Workers Union said it will be open to all employees and contractors, regardless of their role or classification. It will collect dues, pay organizing staff and have an elected…
Twitter’s Launch of Fleets: Lag, Some Crashes, Bugs, Skepticism and Cat Pics
CNET reports on Twitter’s rocky rollout of “fleets” which disappear after 24 hours: In a blog post, Twitter said global tests of the feature indicated the tool helped people feel more comfortable joining public conversations on the service. “Those new to Twitter found Fleets to be an easier way to share what’s on their mind,” the company said. “Because they disappear…
Software Engineer Catches Intelligent Bot Posting on Reddit
“The posts were appearing at a rate of about one per minute, and the posts were lengthy, most around six paragraphs long…” writes software engineer Philip Winston. I read through some of the posts. The quality was incredibly good, no machine could have written these even a few years ago. However there were some flaws and tells that suggested they were…
Most Zoombombing is not done by external hackers – they’re inside jobs
Zoombombing, a kind of virtual gatecrashing that has been used to spread harassment and hate speech, has become a serious problem during the pandemic. An analysis of this behaviour shows the majority of Zoombombers get access from insiders rather than hacking in Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2255550-most-zoombombing-is-not-done-by-external-hackers-theyre-inside-jobs/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Lord of the Rings Special Effects Company ‘Weta Digital’ Launches Inquiry Into Toxic Workplace Claims
AmiMoJo shares a report from The Guardian: Weta Digital, the special effects company behind the orcs, dragons and battle scenes of the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy, has launched an independent investigation into allegations of a toxic work culture including sexism, bullying and pornography being shared on its intranet. The investigation was ordered by the company’s majority owners, who include…
Facebook Removes QAnon Conspiracy Group With 200,000 Members
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Facebook has deleted a large group dedicated to sharing and discussing QAnon conspiracy theories. QAnon is a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory that a “deep state” network of powerful government, business and media figures are waging a secret war against Donald Trump. A Facebook spokeswoman said the group was removed for “repeatedly posting…
Facebook Must Better Police Online Hate, State Attorneys General Say
Twenty state attorneys general on Wednesday called on Facebook to better prevent messages of hate, bias and disinformation from spreading, and said the company needed to provide more help to users facing online abuse. From a report: In a letter [PDF] to the social media giant, the officials said they regularly encountered people facing online intimidation and harassment on Facebook. They…
A Year After an HR Crisis, Microsoft Backs Away From Releasing a Transparency Report
An anonymous reader shares a report: On March 20, 2019, a Microsoft employee who had been at the company for three years sent an email to a collection of listservs for women at the company, asking how to move up in the organization. She had worked for years without a promotion, and said that her career had been limited because she…
Ubisoft Lays Out Anti-Harassment Plan
Ubisoft Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot said in a statement moments ago that the company faces “a very serious challenge following the recent allegations and accusations of misconduct and inappropriate behavior within our Group. I am determined to make profound changes in order to improve and strengthen our corporate culture.” From a report: The company said that a confidential third-party “listening…