A onetime top Google executive , former head of external relations Ross LaJeunesse , is now publicly alleging that the companyabandoned its “ Do n’t be evil ” ethosbecause it was more concerned in chasing “ bigger net and an even higher stock price . ”
LaJeunesse , who is nowrunning for Senateas a Democrat in Maine , is one of the most older current or former Googlers to have speak out against the ship’s company ’s ethically shaky byplay exercise . Hesaid in a blog postand an audience in theWashington Poston Thursday that Google bear on him out in April 2019 after he call forth concerns about human right issues — including projects ranging from monotone imaging for the Pentagon and swarm calculation for theinfamously brutalSaudi governmentto a censored search locomotive engine in China that would marry lookup requeststo users ’ phone numbers . He also alleged that the issues did n’t end with the company ’s alternative of undertaking and business partners , with human resources possibly targeting him for retaliation after he complained about itshandling ofdiversity initiatives .
According to LaJeunesse , he began lobbying internally for Google to assume a formalized human right programme in 2017 after study about how quickly the fellowship was pursuingProject Dragonflyand its decision to put up an AI academic shopping center in Beijing . That alarmed him in exceptional because he knew there was small separating academic research from industrial and authorities pursuits in China , agree to the Post . LaJeunesse say the paper he had additional concerns about Project Maven , the Defense Department radio-controlled aircraft - tomography curriculum thatled to resignationsthe next year , and contracts to host Saudi-Arabian government service like Absher , an app that reserve men to track and restrict theirfemale relatives ’ movement .
Google employees protesting the company’s handling of sexual harassment and assault claims against senior executives outside its offices in San Francisco in November 2018.Photo: Eric Risberg (AP)
At the time , LaJeunesse wrote in the blog post , executives were “ increasingly crucify by the phenomenal growth in the Chinese market”—which Google depart in 2010 , citing human rights and espionage concern — and were pushing“hard for our re - entry into China . ” LaJeunesse wrote that he advocated for Google to publicly commit to following principles found in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights , “ furnish a mechanism for Cartesian product and engineering teams to essay internal review of Cartesian product plan elements , ” and implement mandatory human rights impact assessments as part of its development process .
Other executive director stonewalled him by bring in up an unending series of concern , LaJeunesse indite . Those roam from interjection that Cartesian product development team could handle human right issues on a case - by - case cornerstone and sound department concern about financial obligation ( that LaJeunesse say extraneous expert found to be unwarranted ) .
“ I then realise that the company had never intended to comprise human rights principles into its job and product decisions , ” LaJeunesse compose in the blog post . “ Just when Google want to double down on a dedication to human rights , it decided to instead chase bigger profits and an even high stock price . ”
LaJeunesse also raised business organisation about other troubling incidents at the company , including an all - hands meeting where a supervisor claimed that Asians “ do n’t like to ask questions ” and a diversity practice session that involve sorting him and other employees into a chemical group title “ human ” ( which other staffers call stereotypes at ) . When he brought these issues to Google ’s HR section , he wrote , it apparently took no legal action — except for an e-mail chain he was accidentally forwarded on in which the 60 minutes conductor asked a subordinate to “ do some digging ” on LaJeunesse .
Shortly after , concord to LaJeunesse , he was tell he was being permit go with the misleading excuse that the policy squad was undergoing a “ reorganization . ” After secure legal help , Google said there had been a mistake and offer up him a “ small role ” in a lobbying capacity as part of what he see as a demotion as well as an “ rally for my acquiescence and silence . ”
Thousands of employeesprotested Project Maven , signing an open missive say that serve “ the US Government in military surveillance — and potentially deadly outcomes — is not satisfactory . ” Hundreds moresignedopen lettersopposing Project Dragonfly , with one saying it would “ establish a unsafe case law at a fickle political moment , one that would make it voiceless for Google to abnegate other countries similar concessions . ” Google later on recount furious Senate Judiciary committee membersthat it had “ terminated”the censored Chinese search engine . Tensions at Google over itstreatment of employee protestshas rapidly escalated ; in December 2019 four ex - staffers say they would file National Labor Relations Boardalleging illegal retaliationfor orchestrate against the labor .
“ We have an unwavering dedication to support human right organisation and effort , ” Google spokeswoman Jenn Kaiser order the Post , reiterating that LaJeunesse ’s departure was part of a “ reorganization of our insurance team . ” Kaiser add together that “ We wish Ross all the best with his political ambitions . ”
LaJeunesse spell in his blog post that he believed Google ’s broken committedness to its prior ideals was due in part to leadership changes , such as the dialing back of foundersLarry Page and Sergey Brin’sinvolvement . With a young executive team at the helm , he wrote , “ beat remuneration expectations every quarter became the key precedency , ” and the society ’s rapid elaboration meant that longtime Google staffer were outnumbered by fresh enlistee with less consignment to its “ original values and civilization . ” LaJeunesse add that another major change was Google ’s new accent on the ultra - militant cloud computing byplay , which left senior direction with “ minuscule solitaire for those of us arguing for some form of principled disputation before agreeing to host the applications and information of any customer willing to yield . ”
“ Although the causes and the implications are worth debating , I am certain of the appropriate response , ” LaJeunesse wrote . “ No longer can massive technical school companies like Google be permitted to operate comparatively complimentary from governing oversight . ”
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