Activision’s union, with 600 members, is now the biggest one in video games

The number of unionized workers for Microsoft's video game subsidiaries keeps growing, and the latest group to join the pool is the largest one yet. Approximately 600 quality assurance workers at Activision have joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA), making them the biggest certified union in the US video game industry. They're also the first Activision workers to organize under the agreement between Microsoft and the CWA. If you'll recall, Microsoft agreed to respect the right of Activision Blizzard workers to unionize as part of its efforts to secure regulatory approval for its $68.7 billion takeover of the video game developer. 

CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said Microsoft kept its promise to let workers decide for themselves whether they want a union. Part of Microsoft's pledge when it agreed to make a pact with the CWA was that it would take neutral approach during a union campaign, and the company said it didn't interfere or influence people's votes. 

Another element of their agreement was giving employees access to "innovative technology-supported and streamlined process for choosing whether to join a union," which includes not having to petition the National Labor Relations Board for an election. In this instance, the workers only had to sign a union authorization card or to vote online. According to The New York Times, 390 workers voted in favor of forming a union, while eight people were opposed to it. Around 200 more didn't cast their vote. 

In early 2023, Microsoft also recognized a union with 300 workers for Zenimax, the owner of Bethesda and another one of the company's video gaming subsidiaries, which was the largest one for the video game industry at the time. Those workers also unionized under the simpler process enabled by the company's agreement with CWA. By the end of the year, Microsoft agreed to hire 77 temporary QA contractors as full-time unionized Zenimax employees, which was a welcomed win for workers in an industry beset by layoffs.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/activisions-union-with-600-members-is-now-the-biggest-one-in-video-games-143000869.html?src=rss

SpaceX lawsuit claims repeated instances of gender discrimination and basic safeguarding failures

Warning: The following article covers matters of a sensitive nature.

A SpaceX employee has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of siding with a supervisor who pressured her into having sexual relations with him. The plaintiff said that she and other female employees also had to endure "humiliating comments" questioning their credentials, that she was passed up for promotions in favor of male candidates and that she experienced retaliation when she complained about being paid less than her male counterparts. 

The plaintiff, Michelle Dopak, has been working at the aerospace corporation's headquarters in California since 2017. According to her complaint, she experienced discrimination early on in her employment when she was passed up for job opportunities in favor of external male candidates. Her male colleagues allegedly spread rumors about their female coworkers, as well, claiming that they only got their jobs because of their looks. Dopak and two of her female colleagues met with Gwynne Shotwell to complain about both issues — "an action that no male colleague or employee at SpaceX would ever feel the need to do to justify their hiring and stop such discriminatory actions," the lawsuit reads. The SpaceX president, however, apparently didn't take any action. 

After a reorganization in 2019, the plaintiff was placed under the supervision of a male boss who allegedly pressured her into having a sexual relationship that lasted years. When she got pregnant as a result, she said her married supervisor offered her $100,000 to have an abortion, which she had refused. She also accused SpaceX of colluding with her boss to transfer 48,289 shares worth $3,718,253 out of his name so that he could get out of paying child support. 

Her complaints didn't end there. After getting promoted to a position she had been chasing for years, she found out that a male colleague who was hired at the same time was being paid $5,000 more. The company officials she talked to about the pay disparity couldn't justify it and allegedly offered her only $2,500 more if she also took a reduction in stock benefits. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff said the offer was "a message that if you complain at SpaceX, we will just retaliate against you and find other ways to punish you."

The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of forcing female employees who have claims of sexual harassment and discrimination into bringing their claims to arbitration so that they could be kept secret from the public. "SpaceX has also attempted to coerce and force [the plaintiff] into only bringing her claims in arbitration even though such claims are barred from being forced to arbitration," the complaint continues.

The plaintiff is asking for general, compensatory and consequential damages, including lost wages, earnings and other employee benefits. She's also asking the court to prohibit SpaceX from continuing any "unfair and unlawful business practices." SpaceX is currently facing another proposed class action lawsuit that claims it pays women and minorities tens of thousands less than what it pays white male employees. In January, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against SpaceX, as well, accusing it for illegally firing a group of engineers who criticized Elon Musk for making crude jokes on X about the sexual misconduct accusations against him.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spacex-lawsuit-claims-repeated-instances-of-gender-discrimination-and-basic-safeguarding-failures-133014753.html?src=rss

SpaceX lawsuit claims repeated instances of gender discrimination and basic safeguarding failures

Warning: The following article covers matters of a sensitive nature.

A SpaceX employee has filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of siding with a supervisor who pressured her into having sexual relations with him. The plaintiff said that she and other female employees also had to endure "humiliating comments" questioning their credentials, that she was passed up for promotions in favor of male candidates and that she experienced retaliation when she complained about being paid less than her male counterparts. 

The plaintiff, Michelle Dopak, has been working at the aerospace corporation's headquarters in California since 2017. According to her complaint, she experienced discrimination early on in her employment when she was passed up for job opportunities in favor of external male candidates. Her male colleagues allegedly spread rumors about their female coworkers, as well, claiming that they only got their jobs because of their looks. Dopak and two of her female colleagues met with Gwynne Shotwell to complain about both issues — "an action that no male colleague or employee at SpaceX would ever feel the need to do to justify their hiring and stop such discriminatory actions," the lawsuit reads. The SpaceX president, however, apparently didn't take any action. 

After a reorganization in 2019, the plaintiff was placed under the supervision of a male boss who allegedly pressured her into having a sexual relationship that lasted years. When she got pregnant as a result, she said her married supervisor offered her $100,000 to have an abortion, which she had refused. She also accused SpaceX of colluding with her boss to transfer 48,289 shares worth $3,718,253 out of his name so that he could get out of paying child support. 

Her complaints didn't end there. After getting promoted to a position she had been chasing for years, she found out that a male colleague who was hired at the same time was being paid $5,000 more. The company officials she talked to about the pay disparity couldn't justify it and allegedly offered her only $2,500 more if she also took a reduction in stock benefits. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff said the offer was "a message that if you complain at SpaceX, we will just retaliate against you and find other ways to punish you."

The lawsuit accuses SpaceX of forcing female employees who have claims of sexual harassment and discrimination into bringing their claims to arbitration so that they could be kept secret from the public. "SpaceX has also attempted to coerce and force [the plaintiff] into only bringing her claims in arbitration even though such claims are barred from being forced to arbitration," the complaint continues.

The plaintiff is asking for general, compensatory and consequential damages, including lost wages, earnings and other employee benefits. She's also asking the court to prohibit SpaceX from continuing any "unfair and unlawful business practices." SpaceX is currently facing another proposed class action lawsuit that claims it pays women and minorities tens of thousands less than what it pays white male employees. In January, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against SpaceX, as well, accusing it for illegally firing a group of engineers who criticized Elon Musk for making crude jokes on X about the sexual misconduct accusations against him.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/spacex-lawsuit-claims-repeated-instances-of-gender-discrimination-and-basic-safeguarding-failures-133014753.html?src=rss

A former Google engineer was arrested for allegedly stealing AI secrets for Chinese rivals

A former Google engineer was arrested in California on Wednesday for stealing more than 500 files containing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the company and using the information to benefit rival tech companies in China.

In an indictment that was unsealed in a federal California court, prosecutors accused Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national who started working at Google in 2019, of uploading trade secrets from his Google-issued laptop to personal cloud storage accounts. The documents that Ding stole involved “building blocks” of Google’s AI infrastructure, according to the indictment. He uploaded them to his personal accounts over a period of one year from May 2022 to May 2023.

Ding was arrested in Newark, California, and charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. If convicted, he can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.

“We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Engadget. “After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents, and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement. We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue cooperating with them closely.”

The development comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China over the explosion of artificial intelligence. Last year, the Biden administration banned the export of advanced AI chips designed by American companies like NVIDIA to China to stop the country from using AI to strengthen its military. “Today’s charges are the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are wiling to go to steal American innovation,” said FBI director Christopher Wray in a statement. “The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences.”

The indictment revealed all kinds of details about the nature of the crime. Ding allegedly copied information from Google’s files into Apple Notes on his laptop first, and then converted them to PDF files that he uploaded to his personal Google account to evade detection by Google’s data loss prevention systems. He also gave his Google badge to another Google employee in California to make it seem like he was working from Google’s offices in the state while actually working for rival companies in China. Prosecutors said that Ding helped in raising capital for one of the Chinese companies he worked with as its chief technology officer. Last year, he also founded another AI company in China and served as its CEO.

This isn’t the first time that the US has arrested a Chinese national for stealing trade secrets from American companies. In the last few years, the US attorney’s office in San Francisco has charged three former Apple employees for stealing trade secrets related to the Apple Car, a project the company recently canceled, and siphoning them off to companies in China. Last month, one of those engineers was sentenced to six months in prison and asked to pay nearly $150,000 in fines. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-former-google-engineer-was-arrested-for-allegedly-stealing-ai-secrets-for-chinese-rivals-010846023.html?src=rss

A former Google engineer was arrested for allegedly stealing AI secrets for Chinese rivals

A former Google engineer was arrested in California on Wednesday for stealing more than 500 files containing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the company and using the information to benefit rival tech companies in China.

In an indictment that was unsealed in a federal California court, prosecutors accused Linwei Ding, a 38-year-old Chinese national who started working at Google in 2019, of uploading trade secrets from his Google-issued laptop to personal cloud storage accounts. The documents that Ding stole involved “building blocks” of Google’s AI infrastructure, according to the indictment. He uploaded them to his personal accounts over a period of one year from May 2022 to May 2023.

Ding was arrested in Newark, California, and charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. If convicted, he can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count.

“We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Engadget. “After an investigation, we found that this employee stole numerous documents, and we quickly referred the case to law enforcement. We are grateful to the FBI for helping protect our information and will continue cooperating with them closely.”

The development comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China over the explosion of artificial intelligence. Last year, the Biden administration banned the export of advanced AI chips designed by American companies like NVIDIA to China to stop the country from using AI to strengthen its military. “Today’s charges are the latest illustration of the lengths affiliates of companies based in the People’s Republic of China are wiling to go to steal American innovation,” said FBI director Christopher Wray in a statement. “The theft of innovative technology and trade secrets from American companies can cost jobs and have devastating economic and national security consequences.”

The indictment revealed all kinds of details about the nature of the crime. Ding allegedly copied information from Google’s files into Apple Notes on his laptop first, and then converted them to PDF files that he uploaded to his personal Google account to evade detection by Google’s data loss prevention systems. He also gave his Google badge to another Google employee in California to make it seem like he was working from Google’s offices in the state while actually working for rival companies in China. Prosecutors said that Ding helped in raising capital for one of the Chinese companies he worked with as its chief technology officer. Last year, he also founded another AI company in China and served as its CEO.

This isn’t the first time that the US has arrested a Chinese national for stealing trade secrets from American companies. In the last few years, the US attorney’s office in San Francisco has charged three former Apple employees for stealing trade secrets related to the Apple Car, a project the company recently canceled, and siphoning them off to companies in China. Last month, one of those engineers was sentenced to six months in prison and asked to pay nearly $150,000 in fines. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-former-google-engineer-was-arrested-for-allegedly-stealing-ai-secrets-for-chinese-rivals-010846023.html?src=rss

National Guardsman who leaked US defense secrets on Discord agrees to 16-year plea deal

Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified defense secrets on Discord, has pled guilty. The New York Times reports the 22-year-old withdrew his not-guilty plea on Monday, trading a guilty admission for up to around 16 years in prison. Had he gone to trial and lost, he could have faced up to 60 years.

In a Boston federal court, Teixeira pleaded guilty to six counts of “willful retention and transmission of national defense information” under the Espionage Act. Federal authorities arrested the airman at his mother’s house last April.

The Air National Guardsman is accused of sharing classified documents on a Minecraft-focused Discord server in late 2022. The posted files included volumes of information about the war in Ukraine (including details about military equipment and Russian and Ukrainian troop movements), as well as Russia’s attempts to stockpile more weapons from Egypt and Turkey. The content eventually landed on 4chan, Telegram and other Discord servers.

The leaked docs also contained a report about the hacking of an unnamed American company by “a foreign adversary” and details about a plot to assault US troops serving abroad. 

The government said it didn’t find evidence of deliberate espionage motives, nor did it accuse Teixeira of acting as a whistleblower in the mold of Edward Snowden. Instead, prosecutors concluded he wanted to gain status with his online friends. The New York Times reports that a senior federal law enforcement official, speaking anonymously to the paper, said the DOJ wouldn’t have agreed to the reduced sentencing if it had uncovered more malicious motives.

The judge presiding over the case, Indira Talwani, scheduled a hearing in September to finalize her endorsement of the deal. The sentencing guidelines range from 11 to more than 16 years in prison. His lawyer, Michael K. Bachrach, told reporters Teixeira’s immaturity played a pivotal role while promising he would push for the lowest sentence. “He is very much a kid,” the attorney reportedly said. “We will be able to establish why his youth played a substantial role.”

A NYT investigation of more than 9,500 of Teixeira’s messages, published last May, revealed an obsession with “weapons, mass shootings, shadowy conspiracy theories — and proving he was in the right, and in the know.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/national-guardsman-who-leaked-us-defense-secrets-on-discord-agrees-to-16-year-plea-deal-215721722.html?src=rss

National Guardsman who leaked US defense secrets on Discord agrees to 16-year plea deal

Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified defense secrets on Discord, has pled guilty. The New York Times reports the 22-year-old withdrew his not-guilty plea on Monday, trading a guilty admission for up to around 16 years in prison. Had he gone to trial and lost, he could have faced up to 60 years.

In a Boston federal court, Teixeira pleaded guilty to six counts of “willful retention and transmission of national defense information” under the Espionage Act. Federal authorities arrested the airman at his mother’s house last April.

The Air National Guardsman is accused of sharing classified documents on a Minecraft-focused Discord server in late 2022. The posted files included volumes of information about the war in Ukraine (including details about military equipment and Russian and Ukrainian troop movements), as well as Russia’s attempts to stockpile more weapons from Egypt and Turkey. The content eventually landed on 4chan, Telegram and other Discord servers.

The leaked docs also contained a report about the hacking of an unnamed American company by “a foreign adversary” and details about a plot to assault US troops serving abroad. 

The government said it didn’t find evidence of deliberate espionage motives, nor did it accuse Teixeira of acting as a whistleblower in the mold of Edward Snowden. Instead, prosecutors concluded he wanted to gain status with his online friends. The New York Times reports that a senior federal law enforcement official, speaking anonymously to the paper, said the DOJ wouldn’t have agreed to the reduced sentencing if it had uncovered more malicious motives.

The judge presiding over the case, Indira Talwani, scheduled a hearing in September to finalize her endorsement of the deal. The sentencing guidelines range from 11 to more than 16 years in prison. His lawyer, Michael K. Bachrach, told reporters Teixeira’s immaturity played a pivotal role while promising he would push for the lowest sentence. “He is very much a kid,” the attorney reportedly said. “We will be able to establish why his youth played a substantial role.”

A NYT investigation of more than 9,500 of Teixeira’s messages, published last May, revealed an obsession with “weapons, mass shootings, shadowy conspiracy theories — and proving he was in the right, and in the know.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/national-guardsman-who-leaked-us-defense-secrets-on-discord-agrees-to-16-year-plea-deal-215721722.html?src=rss

Members of ransomware gang Lockbit arrested by law enforcement

International law enforcement, led by the UK’s National Crime Agency, have disrupted ransomware gang Lockbit's operation. The group behind notable hacks against aircraft manufacturer Boeing, chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, sandwich chain Subway and thousands more had its site taken offline on Monday while authorities arrested major players behind the gang. "This site if now under the control of law enforcement," the website reads. According to malware repository Vx-underground, law enforcement took down at least 22 Lockbit-affiliated Tor sites.

"Through our close collaboration, we have hacked the hackers; taken control of their infrastructure, seized their source code, and obtained keys that will help victims decrypt their systems," National Crime Agency Director General, Graeme Biggar, said in a statement. “As of today, LockBit are locked out. We have damaged the capability and most notably, the credibility of a group that depended on secrecy and anonymity."

Lockbit admitted defeat, too. In a statement to Vx-underground, the group said "FBI pwned me." Operation Cronos, the name law enforcement used for their efforts, also resulted in the seizure of source code and other useful data related to Lockbit's operations. At the same time, authorities in Poland, Ukraine and the US arrested key members of the ransomware operation. There are sanctions out for two more Lockbit affiliates in Russia.

There's more good news for Lockbit victims, too: The operation obtained keys from Lockbit to create a decryption tool for victims to get their data back, according to US Attorney General Merrick Garland. The free decryptors can be found via the No More Ransom project

Since 2019 when Lockbit first entered the scene, it's squeezed victims for more than $120 million in ransomware payments, according to acting assistant AG Nicole Argentieri.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/members-of-ransomware-gang-lockbit-arrested-by-law-enforcement-144245076.html?src=rss

Amazon, one of the world’s largest employers, has called the National Labor Relations Board ‘unconstitutional’

Amazon, a company that employs more than 1.54 million people, has claimed that the National Labor Relations Board Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for protecting the rights of workers, is unconstitutional. Amazon made the claim in a legal document filed on Thursday as part of a case in which prosecutors from the Board have accused the e-commerce giant of discrimination against workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island who had voted to unionize, according to The New York Times.

Amazon is not the first company to challenge the Board’s constitutionality. Last month, Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued the NLRB after the agency accused the company of unlawfully firing eight employees and called the agency “unconstitutional” in the lawsuit. Weeks later, grocery chain Trader Joe’s, which the NLRB accused of union-busting, said that the NLRB’s structure and organization was “unconstitutional,” Bloomberg reported. And in separate lawsuits, two Starbucks baristas have independently challenged the agency’s structure as they sought to dissolve their unions.

Amazon’s claim is similar to the existing claims filed by SpaceX and Trader Joe’s. In the lawsuit, the company’s lawyers argued that “the structure of the N.L.R.B. violates the separation of powers” by “impeding the executive power provided for in Article II of the United States Constitution.” In addition, Amazon claimed that the NLRB’s hearings “can seek legal remedies beyond what’s allowed without a trial by jury.”

Seth Goldstein, a lawyer who represents unions in the Amazon and Trader Joe’s cases told Reuters that these challenges to the NLRB increase the chances of the issue reaching the Supreme Court. And they might cause employers to stop bargaining with unions in hope that courts will finally strip the federal agency of its powers, Goldstein said. Amazon has a contentious history with the NLRB, which said the company broke federal labor laws last year. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-one-of-the-worlds-largest-employers-has-called-the-national-labor-relations-board-unconstitutional-011519013.html?src=rss

Amazon, one of the world’s largest employers, has called the National Labor Relations Board ‘unconstitutional’

Amazon, a company that employs more than 1.54 million people, has claimed that the National Labor Relations Board Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for protecting the rights of workers, is unconstitutional. Amazon made the claim in a legal document filed on Thursday as part of a case in which prosecutors from the Board have accused the e-commerce giant of discrimination against workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island who had voted to unionize, according to The New York Times.

Amazon is not the first company to challenge the Board’s constitutionality. Last month, Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued the NLRB after the agency accused the company of unlawfully firing eight employees and called the agency “unconstitutional” in the lawsuit. Weeks later, grocery chain Trader Joe’s, which the NLRB accused of union-busting, said that the NLRB’s structure and organization was “unconstitutional,” Bloomberg reported. And in separate lawsuits, two Starbucks baristas have independently challenged the agency’s structure as they sought to dissolve their unions.

Amazon’s claim is similar to the existing claims filed by SpaceX and Trader Joe’s. In the lawsuit, the company’s lawyers argued that “the structure of the N.L.R.B. violates the separation of powers” by “impeding the executive power provided for in Article II of the United States Constitution.” In addition, Amazon claimed that the NLRB’s hearings “can seek legal remedies beyond what’s allowed without a trial by jury.”

Seth Goldstein, a lawyer who represents unions in the Amazon and Trader Joe’s cases told Reuters that these challenges to the NLRB increase the chances of the issue reaching the Supreme Court. And they might cause employers to stop bargaining with unions in hope that courts will finally strip the federal agency of its powers, Goldstein said. Amazon has a contentious history with the NLRB, which said the company broke federal labor laws last year. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-one-of-the-worlds-largest-employers-has-called-the-national-labor-relations-board-unconstitutional-011519013.html?src=rss