Google’s scapegoating of a single engineer contradicted known internal evidence
Evidence
The FCC found evidence that contradicted Google’s scapegoating narrative. The records showed that the engineer had e-mailed links to his software documentation to project leaders, who then shared them with the entire Street View team. It also found evidence that on at least two occasions, the engineer told his colleagues that Street View was collecting personal data. Despite these facts along with evidence of the company’s exhaustive internal software reviews and testing procedures and the regular transfer of payload data from Street View’s hard disks to Google’s Oregon data center, Google’s engineers denied any knowledge of personal data collection. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 457
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the broader corporate pattern of scapegoating individual ‘bad apples’ to deflect systemic responsibility, parallel to other misconduct defenses. — connects to: Google reframed systemic data capture as one engineer’s isolated mistake — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 455; Google engineered its methods specifically to claim data users intentionally withheld — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 250; Google’s secrecy means its chief economist’s writings reveal its logic — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 199 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Google reframed systemic data capture as one engineer’s isolated mistake
#corroborates(0.95) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 455 - Google engineered its methods specifically to claim data users intentionally withheld
#corroborates(0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 250 - Google’s secrecy means its chief economist’s writings reveal its logic
#expands(0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 199 - Truth commissions that individualize wrongdoing leave structural technologies unexamined
#expands(0.72)