Google has engaged in a systematic effort over the past 15 years to create a culture of concealment and minimize internal communications to avoid potential antitrust lawsuits, according to documents and testimony from recent trials.
The New York Times reports that as Google faced increasing antitrust scrutiny and various lawsuits related to patent, trademark, and copyright claims starting in late 2008, the company’s executives allegedly took steps to limit potentially incriminating communication among employees. In a confidential memo dated August 27, 2008, written by Google’s top lawyer Kent Walker and deputy general counsel Kyle Mische, Google instructed workers to avoid speculation, sarcasm, and discussing “hot topics” that could be seized upon by government regulators or competitors.
The memo, titled “Communications Practices 101,” marked the beginning of a 15-year campaign by Google to make deletion the default for its internal communications. Despite being a company that stores the world’s information, Google actively worked to minimize its own data trail. The company employs various strategies, such as using legal privilege as a comprehensive shield and imposing limitations on its own technology.
Google’s instant messaging tool was set to “off the record,” ensuring that any imprudent phrases would be automatically deleted the following day. Employees were consistently warned that careless communication could jeopardize even the most successful corporation.
The development of this distrustful culture within Google was revealed through hundreds of documents, exhibits, and witness testimonies from three antitrust trials against the company over the past year. The plaintiffs in these cases, which included Epic Games, state attorneys general, and the Department of Justice, sought to establish monopoly behavior by examining emails, memos, and instant messages from numerous Google engineers and executives. […]
— Read More: www.breitbart.com
