A Google employee is suing the company for limiting his speech with confidentiality agreements. He claims the agreements violate California labor laws by classifying all speech about company operations as confidential so that workers can’t even point out product defects or illegal practices. The agreements also ban writing novels about tech companies without Google approval. (Courthouse News Service, December 22,2026, by Dave Tartre)
The company said they were dedicated to transparency, and the confidentiality agreements were designed to protect proprietary business information. The lawsuit brought under the name of John Doe states it does not concern trade secrets or consumer privacy. (Computer World, December 21, 2016, by John Ribeiro)