Protesters rattle Google during I/O developer conference

Protesters rattle Google during I/O developer conference

Activist group Occupy Google wants the tech giant to step up support for net neutrality, while another protest aims at San Francisco evictions by Google's lawyer.

Google has found itself facing the wrath of protesters on a couple of fronts. One group of protesters are upset with what they feel is the tech company’s inadequate support of net neutrality, while another group registered a grievance against a Google executive’s real estate transactions.

As Google’s I/O developer’s conference got under way in the San Francisco Bay Area, members of a group that identifies itself with the hashtag #OccupyGoogle, camped outside the firm’s Mountain View headquarters. The group said on its website that Google has a “a social responsibility to uphold the values of the internet” and asked that Google be more vocal “in support of an internet that is free from censorship, discrimination, and access fees.”

Although Google didn’t mind the protest, police eventually broke it up and arrested 10 people on trespassing charges, according to the UK Register.

Separately, another set of activists gathered outside the Moscone Center, where many of the conference attendees are staying. Some were dressed as Star Wars characters, and handed out pamphlets and flyers that bring attention to a San Francisco evictions trend of displacing poorer residents to make room for more affluent tech employees. They singled out Google lawyer Jack Halprin, who purchased a seven-apartment complex in San Francisco’s Mission District and proceeded to evict its tenants.

Several protesters crashed Google’s conference, including one woman who claimed she had been evicted by Halprin.  She attempted to interrupt a keynote speech and was holding up a sign.  Another protester shouted out during a different keynote speech, that Google was in the business of making “robots that kill people.” Security had them both removed from the premises.   Google has previously purchased robotics company Boston Dynamics.

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