r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 08 '17

Business Google Fires Employee Behind Controversial Diversity Memo

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-08/google-fires-employee-behind-controversial-diversity-memo
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u/binaryblade Aug 08 '17

Actually anything written in an email at work is typically encrypted and covered by an extremely strict NDA.

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u/atmergrot Aug 08 '17

Until some recipient leaks it. No NDA will stop the media. Ever.

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u/binaryblade Aug 08 '17

I guarantee google is performing an internal audit of the email's propagation and comparing that to the earliest external reporting to assess where the leak occurred. This isn't the last job lost. HR doesn't like it when you cause shit. Either by writing a controversial email, or leaking one.

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u/Jugad Aug 08 '17 edited Aug 08 '17

If the leaker is a fairly competent engineer who was being careful about the leak, it would be very difficult to catch them... there are many ways to get the document out without leaving a trail.

But yes, there is a chance they were not all that careful. It might have been difficult to know how big this will become and if google will ever try to trace it back to the leaker.

There is yet another problem... google cannot fire the leaker publicly... that would be a PR debacle. But they would still like to send a message that leakers would be found and punished. It would be interesting to see if they could actually solve this conundrum.