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Daily Authority: šŸ‘‰ An actual cult in Google?

Super weird story where accusations are a bunch of cult members made up most of a team inside Google.
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Published onJune 17, 2022

āš” Good morning! Some personal newsā€¦ Iā€™ll let you know next week! For now, on with the newsā€¦

Fellowship of what now?

Okay, thereā€™s a bit of a wild story coming out of Google.

The New York Times published this detailed look at a Google contractor suing Google for being sacked (gift link). That wouldnā€™t usually be worth a Page 1 appearance in the B1 slot in the Times. But goodness, look at this thing.

  • Kevin Lloyd is suing Google, claiming he was fired last year because he complained about the influence of the religious sect.
  • Lloyd worked as a contractor within Google Developer Studios. That team is responsible for being product evangelists for Googleā€™s developer products.
  • Lloyd noticed nearly half of the team he worked with lived in a place called Oregon House.
  • Oregon House is an elaborate, ā€œ1,200-acre compound full of art and ornate architecture,ā€ and also: itā€™s a cult.
  • The ā€œreligious organizationā€ in Sierra Nevada is called the Fellowship of Friends, which ā€œbelieves a higher consciousness can be achieved by embracing fine arts and culture.ā€
  • Thereā€™s a podcast called Cults which has episodes about them.
  • It took Lloyd a while to realize, he says: ā€œOh, youā€™re from the place everyone we work with is from,ā€ chimed in my friend and co-worker, who was chatting with us. ā€œOregon House,ā€ I clarified for my friend. At that, I saw the blood leave the freelancerā€™s face. He was gravely serious. ā€œOregon House isnā€™t a town,ā€ he said. ā€œItā€™s a cult.ā€

Er ā€¦what?

  • The reporting has a concerning tone but it doesnā€™t sound like the cult members at Google were doing straight-up illegal things.
  • The cult itself doesnā€™t sound great: the Times finds multiple suits against the founder for alleged sexual abuse which were settled out of court.
  • One weird thing is that they made a lot of wine, and then sold it to Google for events. The accusation is Google is therefore funding the cult. (Lloyd claims Sundar Pichai drank it too.)
  • The detail that goes from off-putting is the cronyism: Lloyd said cult members were hiring other cult members via this contracting setup that was going on.
  • ā€œThey were able to further their own aims very rapidly because they could hire people with far less scrutiny and a far less rigorous on-boarding process than if these people were brought on as full-time employees ā€¦ It meant that no one was looking very closely when all these people were brought on from the foothills of the Sierras.ā€
  • You can also read Lloydā€™s post about The Cult In Google which I quoted above as well.

And:

  • Remember, this is the second time this week that something odd has emerged from Google with a quasi-religious tone.
  • In case you missed it, a (strongly religious) Google AI employee was ā€œplaced on administrative leaveā€ for talking about Googleā€™s LaMDA, a large-language model; believing it was sentient, and demanding legal representation.

Roundup

šŸ’µ The price of the Motorola Razr 3 just leaked, and itā€™s good news (Android Authority).

šŸ“… Samsung Galaxy XCover 6 Pro has a launch date, rugged tablet tagging along (Android Authority).

šŸ‘‰ Pocoā€™s latest smartphones break cover ahead of official launch (Android Authority).

āŒš Google Pixel Watch accessories detailed in new leak (Android Authority).

šŸŖ Googleā€™s second-ever permanent store is open now: in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (Android Authority).

šŸ¤” Microsoft Defender extends malware protection to Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android ā€” for a price: only part of an O365 subscription (Ars Technica).

šŸ Apple missing from major tech giants agreeing to new EU rules fighting disinformation (9to5Mac).

šŸ“ŗ LGā€™s extra-tall DualUp Monitor is available now for $699 (Engadget).

šŸ‘‰ ā€œAnna Sorokin wants to move away from her ā€˜scammerā€™ personaā€¦ by selling NFTsā€ (Engadget).

šŸ¤ Elon tells Twitter employees: Make it less boring, make it more like WeChat, and more like TikTok (Gizmodo).

šŸ“¶ ā€œYour router is probably in the wrong spot. Move it to speed up your Wi-Fiā€ (CNET).

šŸŖ“ After layoffs, crypto startups face a ā€˜crucible momentā€™: hard times could be a harbinger for everyone else (Wired).

šŸ˜ ā€œIf all forms of elephant went extinct before we came to be, and all we had were fossils, could we figure out that they had long trunks?ā€ (r/askscience).

Friday Fun

So Sonos kept sending people a bunch of speakers for some reason. One guy, in particular, ordered a nice set of Sonos Turntable Set, Arc soundbar, Arc wall mount, One speaker, and Roam speakers. Then Sonos sent him 30 more, and billed him more than $15,000!

  • But the fun is this: Sonos wanted them all back, all 30 packages: ā€œSonos wanted him to cart all the items to a UPS storeā€ and ā€œa UPS carrier was sent to his building, but the worker was unaware he needed to pick up 30 packages and left with just one.ā€
  • Sonos said it was a glitch, apologized, and sent refunds, but also demanded everything be sent back, from reports on Reddit.
  • Anyway, as it happensā€¦ the law is on your side, and Sonos is finally admitting no one needs to send their items back.

Free!

  • The Verge points out that the FTC website says: ā€œYou never have to pay for things you get but didnā€™t order ā€¦ You also donā€™t have to return unordered merchandise. Youā€™re legally entitled to keep it as a free gift.ā€
  • And Sonos, after quite a lot of media attention, is being a lot more meek since people realized the stuff is now a gift.
  • ā€œSonos does not require the return of extra equipment and respects the decision of each impacted customer,ā€ said spokesperson Madeline Krebs to The Verge. ā€œWe have and will continue to be in full compliance with FTC requirements.ā€
  • Nice! Free Sonos stuff, aside from the stress and hassle when it just kept arriving.
  • But still: free!

Have a great weekend,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.

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