Google sexual abuse scandal, Berlin protesters’ victory

This 25 October 2018 video from Britain says about itself:

Google executive received £70m as company kept quiet about sexual misconduct claim

Read more here and here.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV, 25 October 2018:

Google has covered up allegations of sexual abuse against Android creator Andy Rubin. This reports The New York Times. Rubin was accused by a Google employee of sexual misconduct. The top level of the corporation found the accusation credible after investigation and moved towards a departure by Rubin.

He was not, however, dismissed on the spot. On his departure he received not only praise, but also 90 million dollars. Former CEO Larry Page praised him. “He made something very remarkable with Android, with more than a billion happy users.” The case of sexual misconduct never became known and the company was silent about the allegations.

Rubin had an extra-marital relationship with the woman since 2012. She says he forced her to have sex in a hotel room in 2013. She then broke off the relationship, reports The New York Times. …

Page did not respond to questions by the newspaper, who spoke with more than thirty employees and former employees of Google about sexual misconduct within the company. The New York Times also looked at company documents and court documents.

According to The New York Times, Google has covered up a number of other cases of sexual misconduct in recent years. In the past decade, apart from Rubin, two more senior employees were accused of sexual misconduct. Two of them, including Rubin, were able to leave but received a considerable sum of money. The third man is said to have been kicked upstairs.

Google staff walk out around the world over sexual harassment: here.

https://twitter.com/kevinroose/status/1058008591200870402

This is hardly Google’s only problem. See their war profiteering, only stopped by mass revulsion among Google workers. See their censorship of pro-peace or otherwise leftist Internet sites.

This 4 February video from Germany, with English subtitles, says about itself:

Who owns Berlin? “F*** off Google” (Part 1)

In the first of our two-part report, redfish teamed up with Berliner Marcus Staiger as he spoke to the people fighting against the gentrification of Berlin and one particularly unwelcome neighbour: Google. Featuring Berlin hip-hop artist Drob Dynamic, campaign groups including Stop Evictions and Fuck off Google.

This sequel video says about itself:

Part 2: Marcus Staiger reports for redfish how one of Berlin’s most radical neighbourhoods, Kreuzberg, is standing up to big data and gentrification.

Correction: A graphic in this report makes it appear as though Klaus Wowereit was mayor of Berlin from 2002-2007 when in fact he was Mayor from 2001-2014. Wowereit was responsible for the sell off of 110,000 public homes during the period of 2002-2007. We apologise for the confusing presentation of this information.

Gentrification by companies like Google makes rents unaffordable for not so rich Berliners, leading to evictions.

This 24 October 2018 German video says the Kreuzberg anti-Google protesters have won.

By Steve Sweeney:

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Anti-gentrification and privacy activists celebrate Google’s retreat from in Berlin

CAMPAIGNERS celebrated by saying “goodbye to Google” today after the US tech giant dropped plans to open a campus in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.

The victory came after months of high-profile campaigning against Google’s bid to open a centre for start-up companies in the German capital, with activists citing it as proof that “protest works.”

Anti-gentrification activists were among those who exposed the role of Google in pushing up rental prices in areas that the firm moves into.

San Francisco has become the world’s most expensive city, which activists blame on Google’s presence, while its Toronto campus was branded “part of a dystopian ‘smart city’ project where the urban environment surveils everyone all the time.”

Despite Berlin claiming to operate a capped-rent system, the announcement of Google’s planned arrival saw rents in Kreuzberg rocket by 71 per cent from 2016 to 2017, compared with a city-wide average rise of 20 per cent.

The Fuck Off Google campaign group warned of the potential for Google to harvest personal information and highlighted the company’s reputation for colluding with authoritarian regimes.

Last month, activists from the group squatted the disused electricity substation that Google planned to move into.

Google spokesman Ralf Brenner denied that the company had dropped its plans because of the protests, claiming that the decision was taken after discussions with many stakeholders, including community groups and local politicians.

“Of course, we are living in Berlin ourselves, so we know what’s happening with the rents”. he said.

The Occupy Berlin group invited people to join them at the power station to drink champagne to celebrate, while warning that Google’s retreat from Berlin was likely to be temporary.

The space will instead be occupied by Betterplace, an online donation platform, and Karuna, which supports children in need.