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Judges Rule Google Search by Employer Not Illegal
An anonymous reader passed us a link to an Ars Technica article about a failed lawsuit over a Google search. A federal circuit court of appeals has upheld the original ruling against David Mullins, who claimed that Googling his name constituted ex parte communications prior to firing him. "Through a series of events, Mullins' employer found that he had misused his government vehicle and government funds for his own purposes — such as sleeping in his car and falsifying hotel documents to receive reimbursements, withdrawing unauthorized amounts of cash from the company card, and traveling to destinations sometimes hundreds of miles away from where he was supposed to be ... Mullins' supervisor provided a 23-page document listing 102 separate instances of misconduct. Mullins took issue with a Google search that Capell performed just before authorizing his firing. During this Google search, Capell found that Mullins had been fired from his previous job at the Smithsonian Institution and had been removed from Federal Service by the Air Force."
Sure, but what are you going to do? Fire your boss?
My UID is prime... is yours?
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
I got about halfway through thinking that this guy was a politician...
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
During this Google search, Capell found that Mullins had been fired from his previous job at the Smithsonian Institution and had been removed from Federal Service by the Air Force."
That's shocking. What sort of Draconian employment termination policies are in action here? Removed from federal service by the air force? Usually, I'd just have a quiet word to let the employee know their services are no longer required.
"Security, escort Mullins from the office. Yes, of course I mean with the F-16s..."
I had a dream, bright and carefree, but now there's doubt and gravity
Well in Soviet Russia, that did happen once.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
"Sorted: all in order.
Sordid: dirty, immoral."
Right, he sorted by professional, then personal past. Personally I would have sorted by good and evil, but everybody reads data differently.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
According to the story, his name was David Mullins. So I guess, he was in fact a scumbag!
Optimist: The thumb drive is half empty! Pessimist: The thumb drive is half full...
I don't know about yours, but my past is sorted too--chronologically. :-)
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He must've been new there.