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Bus Protesters Target 'Evil' Google Employee at Home

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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Anti-Google activists in the Bay Area took things up a notch this week, targeting one of the company's employees at home.

A group of protestors calling themselves Counterforce on Tuesday morning showed up at the Berkeley, Calif. home of Google X developer Anthony Levandowski, best known as the engineer behind the tech giant's famous self-driving car, and attempted to prevent him from getting to work. In a statement posted the local news site Indybay, the protestors said they arrived at Levandowski's door around 7 a.m. and held up banners reading "Google's Future Stops Here" before distributing fliers about him around the neighborhood.

"Anthony Levandowski is building an unconscionable world of surveillance, control and automation," the flier (pictured above) reads. "He is your neighbor." The fliers called Levandowski evil, and detailed his work in the defense industry as well as his purported plans to develop luxury condos in the area.

"Our problem is with Google, its pervasive surveillance capabilities utilized by the NSA, the technologies it is developing, and the gentrification its employees are causing in every city they inhabit," the group said. "But our problem does not stop with Google. All of you other tech companies, all of you other developers and everyone else building the new surveillance state — We're coming for you next."

After putting up fliers around Levandowski's neighborhood and blocking his driveway for about 45 minutes, the protestors made their way to a Google shuttle pickup in Berkeley and blocked it for around 30 minutes.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the incident.

The protest came as the San Francisco transit agency voted Tuesday to oversee tech companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook who shuttle workers in luxury, Wi-Fi-enabled buses from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, according to The New York Times. The buses have sparked a heated debate, with activists arguing that companies should be fined for picking up employees at city bus stops without paying taxes and disrupting San Francisco public transportation.

Under the new pilot program approved this week, buses will be charged $1 each time they pick up or drop off passengers.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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