A federal judge has issued an order to investigate Google for allegedly deliberately destroying chat logs, raising alarm bells about the tech giant’s behavior towards its users.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by David Anderson, a former Google employee who was terminated in June 2019. According to Anderson, Google destroyed chat logs for employees that contained information about the company’s labor practices and potential violations of labor laws.
Anderson alleged that Google has a corporate policy to prevent its employees from using personal communication tools, like Skype, Slack, or WhatsApp, to share information with each other. He claimed the company took these steps in order to keep its employees from exchanging information that could potentially be incriminating in terms of labor laws.
In response, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the company to turn over all chat logs for the time frame in question, including any logs that have been destroyed or corrupted. Sullivan stated that if there is evidence that Google destroyed or corrupted these chat logs intentionally, there may be violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
The ruling has sparked widespread fear and uncertainty among tech companies as to how they should handle their chat logs moving forward. In response, Google has stated that it takes user privacy very seriously and that it follows all laws and regulations in this regard.
This lawsuit and ruling serves as a colossal reminder of the need for tech companies to not only act in the best interests of their users, but also remain compliant with applicable laws. It will be fascinating to follow the results of the investigation and the potential repercussions for tech companies if any violations are found.