Google employees believe that management has created an internal surveillance tool to “learn about employees’ attempts to speak up in an organized manner,” such as protests or labor rights, Bloomberg writes citing employees.

We are talking about the extension of the Google Chrome browser installed on all computers in the company’s office, which automatically informs the management of new events in Google’s online calendars with the participation of more than 100 people. The company objects: the extension does not collect personal data, but merely removes mail spam due to accidentally generated events.

According to employees, the extension began to be installed this month, but it was not yet possible to develop it at the end of September. Third-party specialists were involved in the development, they point out, but the tool was approved by internal specialists who are responsible for maintaining the privacy policy. Employees fear that this will finally destroy the hitherto open “Google culture” by introducing new bans, such as a ban on political discussions.

This is not the first evidence of internal stress in the company. A year ago, 20,000 Google employees around the world came out in protest against the leadership that covered harassment and paid Android creator Andy Rubin who was found to be involved in them to pay $ 90 million in severance pay.

While some consider Google the dream employer, employees themselves have long complained about the company because of the tyranny of management. Former employees of the company have already told the media several stories of tacit punishment after protests against Google’s policies. Over the past year, there have been several actions – against monetary rewards for top managers accused of harassment, the supply of artificial intelligence technologies for drones to the Pentagon, and participation in the board for the development of AI chairman of the Heritage Foundation with homophobic views. Clap Stapleton of the YouTube marketing department and Meredith Wittaker of the AI ​​research group then collected more than 10 stories of sanctions that applied to other employees.

The penalties were different – from a ban on working on a project to demotion. The Google leadership said that they did not practice unspoken punishment, and the company had several communication channels at once, including anonymous, to collect negative feedback from employees.