What Did Google Do This Week?
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER LEAK
A busy end to the week for Google seeing Pichai and co paying $2.3m to avoid a jury trial for a federal antitrust trial about Google's ad business (a different one to being an illegal monopoly) doesn’t beat the newest leak Google suffered earlier in the week.
Over the past six years it turns out that Google has experienced numerous privacy incidents that didn’t all make it into the public domain, including the accidental collection of children's voice data, leakage of carpool users' trips and home addresses, and making YouTube recommendations based on deleted watch histories. Details come from an internal Google database obtained by 404 Media, which tracks potential privacy and security issues reported by employees. Google says that these incidents, which were flagged between six and nine years ago, have all been reviewed and resolved, with any private information deleted, according to the Google spokesperson.
While most incidents affected a relatively small number of people and were quickly addressed, the database highlights how Google often mishandles vast amounts of sensitive personal data. The leak follows another last week, where 2,500 internal documents were exposed revealing the complex process Google uses to rank websites on Search. For a company that is usually buttoned up, this is embarrassing as it is uncommon to say the least. When you’re the size that Google is, any leak matters, but especially in two areas; search and privacy.
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SO WHAT?
Well, for starters, Google's chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, is out after 13 years in the role, he will not be replaced and the role will be restructured. Googlers are said to have been shocked by the announcement. The second major leak in as many weeks is another big lose-lose for Google. The biggest issue is the reputation hit for Google however old the issues that came to light. Will this lead to a fully transparent Google? Not on your life. The question on a lot of lips is now: what else have they been untruthful about? Not a look Google wants to be seen with when the company it trying to forge ahead in the AI war that other companies are bringing to their doorstep. Another huge player is about to be announced on Monday at Apple’s WWDC who will be partnering with Google’s #1 competitor in the field - OpenAI.
Whistleblowers have long been the biggest, often unspoken, threat for big tech and show a group of unhappy Googleplexers who have major concerns about how the company has been, and is, operating. The issue is what these employees will do about it, will they quit and go work for the government to realise the regulation needed? Or will they still take the cheques that Google gives them? There’s a lot employees can do to help AI be safer, but they don’t have to always be inside the companies - that’s a choice they make when they stay. But, to believe big tech companies will stop, slow down or avoid big future AI paydays through leaks is naive. Companies and individuals have the choice to use other tools, money talks. So put your money where your mouth is if you want to show companies where your priorities are - that, or regulation, are the only way these companies change.
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Another Google leak revealed thousands of privacy concerns. /404Media
Current and former Google and OpenAI employees signed an open letter about the “recklessness” of big tech AI companies. /Verge
Google’s chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, announced his impending departure after +13 years. /Forbes
Google cut at least 100 jobs from Cloud. /Reuters
Leaks also revealed YouTube’s gaming “leak culture”. /Insider Gaming
Google temporarily defeated a class action over an AI training data row. /Reuters
Google acquired the software virtualisation company Cameyo. /Verge
Google parent Alphabet named a new CFO. /Reuters
Google lost a bid to overturn a $20 million thermostat patent claim. /Reuters
Google must face a £13.6bn advertising lawsuit, UK courts ruled. /BBC
Google won a bid for state records in its online ads antitrust case. /Reuters
Google was sued by publishers over ads for pirated e-books. /Reuters
Google Ads emailed US advertisers about upcoming privacy compliance law changes. /SEJ
Google published a case study on the importance of structured data in SEO. /SEJ
Google Pixel VPN beta was rolled out for more users. /TechRadar
Google’s Pixel 9 Pro power upgrades were revealed in leaks. /Forbes
Google updated its Pixel repair policy. /9to5Google
Google completed its $5 billion data centre expansion in Singapore. /TechRound
Google will stop indexing non-mobile-friendly sites from July. /SEL
Google’s AI Overviews now appear in just 15% of searches just two weeks after disastrous rollout. /SEL
Google Gemini launched in the UK. /Independent
Google expanded its AI note-taking assistant NotebookLM to +200 new countries. /TechCrunch
Google announced a new program for AI startups in the public sector. /TechCrunch
Google cracked down on AI apps over deepfake nudes. /TechCrunch
Google have developed a new AI tool for Coral Reef researchers. /TechCrunch
Google’s AI Overviews were found to be copying authors’ work. /Wired
Google Maps announced key changes to its location history settings. /Verge
Google Chrome launched Manifest V3, threatening ad-blockers. /Computing UK
Google Sheets rolled out a ‘conditional notifications’ update. /Verge
Google paid $2.3m to get a Judge, not a jury to try an federal antitrust lawsuit. /AP
Google announced a partnership with emergency services company RapidSOS to better enable 911 contact. /TechCrunch
Google revealed multiple LGBTQ+ initiatives for Pride month. /Google
Google Search joined LinkedIn. /Google
Nvidia overtook Apple as world’s second-most valuable company, behind Google. /Reuters
A Google alum is seeking $500 million for startups affiliated with Alphabet’s moonshot lab X. /Bloomberg
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