3 ms·

It's shocking to me that Googlers are using internal/workplace email to organize. These discussions should be moved to a place that is outside Google's reach—ha

It's shocking to me that Googlers are using internal/workplace email to organize. These discussions should be moved to a place that is outside Google's reach—have them on Signal, Slack, ProtonMail, whatever. This in is the 0.1% of cases where it's really ill-advised to be using Google tools for organizing.

rmbryan 8y ago
Can anyone think of a reason the organizers would have decided to use workplace email for this?
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  One obvious reason is, it's easiest. I hardly know anyone's private contact info, but of course you can always look up colleagues' work emails in the corporate directory. And a large part of organizing is bringing people into the fold, so you'd still need to be organizing at work somehow, even if all you're doing is asking for external communications methods to continue the conversation. There's a much higher drop rate that way though.
- idlewords 8y ago
  My understanding is it's not just email, but internal message boards. Absolutely fine for gaining an audience, but the discussion should immediately move elsewhere.
- silversconfused 8y ago
  It's honest. It's transparent. It's trusting. And it's protected by the law and could easily accounted for during discovery for a lawsuit (not a lawyer, do not play one on tv either).
  - idlewords 8y ago
    Being transparent and trusting towards your employer is fine as long as your efforts are ineffective. Once they start to have an impact, it helps not to be totally reliant on your opponent for your ability to hurt them. Legal protections are not very helpful in a context where the other party has unlimited legal resources and time is not on your side.
clubm8 8y ago
The problem is even if you use another service, you're probably still on their Wifi. Large buildings don't always have good cell coverage. So even if they don't know what you're saying on Signal, they know who used it at what times. Plus Signal groups are unwieldy with many participants, plus it's just a PITA to type on your phone vs a keyboard. Also, does GOOG MITM employee connections? Many large banks and hospitals make you install a root cert to use the wifi. In short, there are many nudges pushing employees to use "insecure" organizing methods. Also from a legal perspective, if you have a history of allowing internal debate, you open yourself up to liability if you silence that debate when it touches on the workplace. (It's protected speech in the states to discuss working conditions, and it can be considered retaliation to not allow discussing conditions if other non work talk is allowed)

rmbryan 8y ago

Can anyone think of a reason the organizers would have decided to use workplace email for this?

CydeWeys 8y ago
One obvious reason is, it's easiest. I hardly know anyone's private contact info, but of course you can always look up colleagues' work emails in the corporate directory. And a large part of organizing is bringing people into the fold, so you'd still need to be organizing at work somehow, even if all you're doing is asking for external communications methods to continue the conversation. There's a much higher drop rate that way though.
idlewords 8y ago
My understanding is it's not just email, but internal message boards. Absolutely fine for gaining an audience, but the discussion should immediately move elsewhere.
silversconfused 8y ago
It's honest. It's transparent. It's trusting. And it's protected by the law and could easily accounted for during discovery for a lawsuit (not a lawyer, do not play one on tv either).
- idlewords 8y ago
  Being transparent and trusting towards your employer is fine as long as your efforts are ineffective. Once they start to have an impact, it helps not to be totally reliant on your opponent for your ability to hurt them. Legal protections are not very helpful in a context where the other party has unlimited legal resources and time is not on your side.

clubm8 8y ago

The problem is even if you use another service, you're probably still on their Wifi. Large buildings don't always have good cell coverage. So even if they don't know what you're saying on Signal, they know who used it at what times. Plus Signal groups are unwieldy with many participants, plus it's just a PITA to type on your phone vs a keyboard. Also, does GOOG MITM employee connections? Many large banks and hospitals make you install a root cert to use the wifi. In short, there are many nudges pushing employees to use "insecure" organizing methods. Also from a legal perspective, if you have a history of allowing internal debate, you open yourself up to liability if you silence that debate when it touches on the workplace. (It's protected speech in the states to discuss working conditions, and it can be considered retaliation to not allow discussing conditions if other non work talk is allowed)