Google may have to get used to the protests.
Weeks after Google employees around the world left their offices to protest the handling of the company’s sexual behavior lawsuits, the Mountain View-based search giant is about to face another worldwide protest. This time, however, Amnesty International comes for it. The planned demonstrations are aimed at highlighting Google’s efforts, codenamed Dragonfly, to build a censored Chinese search engine.
Everything is ready for November 27, reports The Intercept, and Amnesty International is not playing. The NGO launched a petition asking Google to stop its Dragonfly project, and a satirical Google recruiting video.
In addition, the petition makes it clear that it is about more than the search engine specifically censored, and China in general.
“If Google is willing to exchange human rights for profit in China, could they do the same in other countries?” Asks the petition. “Remain in solidarity with Google staff members who have protested the project and communicate to CEO Sundar Pichai to #DropDragonfly before it can be initiated.”
The video, a simulated Dragonfly recruitment ad, is a bit more forceful.
“To apply,” explains a fake Google employee, “you will need excellent coding skills, five years of experience, you will not have any morale and you will be happy to deliver people’s personal data.”
The Intercept says the demonstrations will take place at Google offices located in the US. UU., The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Spain.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai publicly boasted about the censored search engine and told participants at the Wired Summit 25 that “[it will be] that we can handle more than 99 percent of the queries.” ] There are many, many areas where we would provide better information than what is available. ”
Google has faced internal rejection of the Dragonfly project, and the New York Times reported in August that hundreds of employees had signed an internal letter “demanding more transparency to understand the ethical consequences of their work.”
The protests on Tuesday appear to be another call for transparency. Time will tell if Google listens.
