Wow I had no idea you need your employer's permission to be in a photo..
You do when you work for Google and the picture is going to be in a magazine. :)
Or what, they'll get fired? Could a company do so without risk of a lawsuit?
Yes, it was probably part of their employment agreement, that all public appearances are at the approval of Google. That's pretty typical, even for an acquired startup.
And if they get fired with cause, they most likely loose a lot of their acquisition payout, so it is in their best interest to follow the rules.
And these guys are YouTube founders - pretty sure exceptions can be made for them. Also, they deserve to be in the photograph considering the relevance.
> And these guys are YouTube founders
And once they were acquired, no different than any other Google employee. That is the cost of "selling out" as they say.
Can't you get fired for pretty much anything in America?
It's crazy to think, in 10 years, who will be the grandchildren of these legends..
The YouTube founders, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, were not allowed to participate in the photo because the corporate handlers at Google didn't want them to be linked to the mafia ;)