Yahoo! has filed a lawsuit against a former staffer who, they say, broke her confidentiality agreement and leaked corporate secrets.
The complaint by the tech giant alleges that Cecile Lal, a former senior director of product management, gave access to the journalist Nicholas Carlson, who later used the information for his book Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!, released earlier this year. Lal, allegedly, dug up information for Carlson and gave him credentials to Yahoo!'s password-protected troves. Among the dirt Carlson was able to get from Lal was supposedly the confidential "FYI" meetings according to Bloomberg.
Neither side has yet to comment, though Carlson tweeted on Friday looking for some legal advice:
I’ve got a few recommendations already, but I’m looking for a very good first amendment lawyer, if you know one.
— Nicholas Carlson (@nichcarlson) May 8, 2015
The book, released in January, chronicles CEO Marissa Mayer's efforts to turn around Yahoo! and the continued struggle to keep the former tech pioneer relevant into the future. Part of Mayer's efforts included the weekly "FYI" all-hands meetings (documented here in a book excerpt), all of which began with a confidentiality reminder. "Lal's breach of trust and confidentiality also destabilized the trust on which Yahoo relies in providing its employees with the greatest level of information Yahoo has ever shared with its workforce," the tech giant alleges.
Because Yahoo, Mayer, and even former employees were unwilling to speak with Carlson for his book, he relied heavily on anonymous sources. "Many of the sources who provided me documents and agreed to be interviewed by me did so at the risk of their careers inside Yahoo, Google, and around the Internet industry," he wrote.
According to LinkedIn, Lal is now working at Talentoday.