(AmericanProsperity.com) – Almost all Americans have some kind of digital footprint, especially if they use social media. But, email servers and other sites also store plenty of personal information that users believe to be relatively secure. However, one way this data can be accessed is by insiders. A new report shows that some Google employees were caught spying on the tech giant’s users, but thankfully, they’re now paying the price for their actions.
On Wednesday, August 4, Motherboard, the technical branch of Vice, released a report on leaked documents from Google, detailing dozens of employees who have been let go due to abusing their access to data. It revealed that Google released 36 employees in 2020, 26 in 2019 and 18 in 2018 for mishandling confidential information or misusing the company’s systems.
Historian and reporter Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai shared the news on Twitter:
NEW: A leaked document shows Google fired dozens of employees for accessing internal employee data, as well as user data.https://t.co/gheUwSvPSG
— Lorenzo … AFK 🎄 (@lorenzofb) August 4, 2021
Similar instances have taken place over the years at MySpace, Snapchat and Facebook. A statement from a Google spokesperson told Motherboard that while the company does use “industry-leading safeguards” to limit employees’ access to data, it can still happen. One more noteworthy incident happened in 2010, when Google fired engineer David Barksdale for accessing the call logs of minors.
Thankfully, Google has been transparent with these violations in recent years, although this report does highlight how critical it is that Americans do everything in their power to keep their personal data, and their childrens’, safe and sound.
~Here’s to Your Prosperity!
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