GCreep: Google Engineer Stalked Teens, Spied on Chats (Updated)

“We entrust Google with our most private communications because
we assume the company takes every precaution to safeguard our data.
It doesn’t. A Google engineer spied on four underage teens for
months before the company was notified of the abuses.

“David Barksdale, a 27-year-old former Google engineer,
repeatedly took advantage of his position as a member of an elite
technical group at the company to access users’ accounts, violating
the privacy of at least four minors during his employment, we’ve
learned. Barksdale met the kids through a technology group in the
Seattle area while working as a Site Reliability Engineer at
Google’s Kirkland, Wash. office. He was fired in July 2010 after
his actions were reported to the company. [Update: Google has
confirmed the security breach. An update appears below.]

“GCreep: Google Engineer Stalked Teens, Spied on Chats
(Updated)It’s unclear how widespread Barksdale’s abuses were, but
in at least four cases, Barksdale spied on minors’ Google accounts
without their consent, according to a source close to the
incidents.”

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