Search and Destroy

Google enables you to search the internet. But searching its own internal communications is an entirely different matter. In the NYT (Gift Article), David Streitfeld explains how, in an effort to avoid antitrust suits, Google Spent 15 Years Creating a Culture of Concealment. “Even as the internet giant stored the world’s information, it created an office culture that tried to minimize its own. Among its tools: using legal privilege as an all-purpose shield and imposing restraints on its own technology, all while continually warning that loose lips could sink even the most successful corporation.” (I’m not sure how unusual this behavior is among large companies, but it’s interesting to see how it works, and worth noting the contrast with how much big tech often encourages users to share.)