Oh Pollen, you bunch of prats. I remember doing some initial consult with them in 2020/2021 and the vibe out my partner and I on red alert. Just something both of us went "this feels fishy" and...
Oh Pollen, you bunch of prats.
I remember doing some initial consult with them in 2020/2021 and the vibe out my partner and I on red alert. Just something both of us went "this feels fishy" and walked away.
I've done the whistle-blower thing. I did it for a bank who was taking advantage of some users based on their diminished capability (vulnerable). I was a consultant at the time and managed to get my hands on all sorts of things before screaming about it.
The CEO got a slap on the wrist from the regulators.
These days I am far more hostile if I find this shit.
More hostile.....what more could I do other than reporting it to the authorities, especially if it will only result in a slap on the wrist? I want to be able to help, to resist evil if the time...
More hostile.....what more could I do other than reporting it to the authorities, especially if it will only result in a slap on the wrist? I want to be able to help, to resist evil if the time ever comes but I wouldn't know what to do.
Unfortunately, they might also try to negotiate with those same "slap on the wrist" authoritarians for a few dimes in exchange for suppression of that story. That's how media under capitalism...
Unfortunately, they might also try to negotiate with those same "slap on the wrist" authoritarians for a few dimes in exchange for suppression of that story.
That's how media under capitalism works, sadly. If media actually did its job of being the fourth pillar, we would be hearing a lot more whistleblower stories than now. When did you last hear about the grand expose by media in this millennium?
You make as many people aware as possible. See: The Media as well as folks who are a level or so down. You can cause a lot of disruption in an org by targetting and making public specific...
You make as many people aware as possible. See: The Media as well as folks who are a level or so down.
You can cause a lot of disruption in an org by targetting and making public specific information about the higherups. Doesn't always work (as in this article), but I'd rather do something than nothing.
What would you do if you learned your company is up to something illegal like stealing customer funds, or you’re asked to make code changes that will enable something illegal to happen, like misleading investors, or defrauding customers? Here are three real-life cases, where what engineers and engineering managers did had serious consequences.
I appreciated this being posted. Fairly recently where I work, I felt like I was asked to do something potentially illegal (and generally compromising to our image). I spent a week devising...
I appreciated this being posted. Fairly recently where I work, I felt like I was asked to do something potentially illegal (and generally compromising to our image). I spent a week devising crazier and crazier solutions that would meet the customer hoops / requirements and keep us from crossing the line. I have worked in less-than-ethical industries, but never had I felt like I was deceitful until that time.
It ended up working out, I think in part because I had outright stated that we would be lying to our customer if we did the proposed solution (which wasn't the smartest thing, but it was true) and because another engineer came up with an idea that made one of the requirements more viable.
That being said, it is scary that in all of these stories, it sounds like your job ends up on the line in some way and that one would have to be prepared for the consequences (likely no income). Further, I can see these situations defying normal logic-- generally we are meant to trust the people we work with and to not see our actions as our actions but actions for the company. But to do that implicates you.
Most of the people in these positions are not vulnerable in terms of their job prospects. Juniors and immigrants on visas are in a much tougher spot, and I imagine it’s easier to leverage them to...
Most of the people in these positions are not vulnerable in terms of their job prospects. Juniors and immigrants on visas are in a much tougher spot, and I imagine it’s easier to leverage them to do illegal things in these scenarios. It amazes me that someone who had no issues finding ethical work would not opt to out their employer.
Yeah, this struck me when they presented the list of options for Singh to avoid legal culpability -- these options often aren't available for more vulnerable members of the workforce, and being a...
Yeah, this struck me when they presented the list of options for Singh to avoid legal culpability -- these options often aren't available for more vulnerable members of the workforce, and being a software engineer doesn't preclude that. You can absolutely be a software engineer who can't afford to lose their job for either financial or visa reasons. What are they supposed to do then? Will whistleblower protections save you from losing your green card?
On whistleblower.gov, you can find information about retaliation projections by subject. I wouldn’t think that lawful permanent residents - green card holders - would have to worry about losing...
I wouldn’t think that lawful permanent residents - green card holders - would have to worry about losing their green card for whistleblowing.
For visa holders - like an H1-B visa - termination could theoretically cause issues. I don’t know much beyond the basics of U visas or whistleblower, but I did see this which gave me hope:
On March 30, 2023, OSHA began exercising authority to complete U and T visa certifications for certain victims of crimes and trafficking.
Oh Pollen, you bunch of prats.
I remember doing some initial consult with them in 2020/2021 and the vibe out my partner and I on red alert. Just something both of us went "this feels fishy" and walked away.
I've done the whistle-blower thing. I did it for a bank who was taking advantage of some users based on their diminished capability (vulnerable). I was a consultant at the time and managed to get my hands on all sorts of things before screaming about it.
The CEO got a slap on the wrist from the regulators.
These days I am far more hostile if I find this shit.
More hostile.....what more could I do other than reporting it to the authorities, especially if it will only result in a slap on the wrist? I want to be able to help, to resist evil if the time ever comes but I wouldn't know what to do.
Make an anonymous post about it, then notify the local news of the post. They'd gobble that up.
Unfortunately, they might also try to negotiate with those same "slap on the wrist" authoritarians for a few dimes in exchange for suppression of that story.
That's how media under capitalism works, sadly. If media actually did its job of being the fourth pillar, we would be hearing a lot more whistleblower stories than now. When did you last hear about the grand expose by media in this millennium?
You make as many people aware as possible. See: The Media as well as folks who are a level or so down.
You can cause a lot of disruption in an org by targetting and making public specific information about the higherups. Doesn't always work (as in this article), but I'd rather do something than nothing.
I appreciated this being posted. Fairly recently where I work, I felt like I was asked to do something potentially illegal (and generally compromising to our image). I spent a week devising crazier and crazier solutions that would meet the customer hoops / requirements and keep us from crossing the line. I have worked in less-than-ethical industries, but never had I felt like I was deceitful until that time.
It ended up working out, I think in part because I had outright stated that we would be lying to our customer if we did the proposed solution (which wasn't the smartest thing, but it was true) and because another engineer came up with an idea that made one of the requirements more viable.
That being said, it is scary that in all of these stories, it sounds like your job ends up on the line in some way and that one would have to be prepared for the consequences (likely no income). Further, I can see these situations defying normal logic-- generally we are meant to trust the people we work with and to not see our actions as our actions but actions for the company. But to do that implicates you.
Most of the people in these positions are not vulnerable in terms of their job prospects. Juniors and immigrants on visas are in a much tougher spot, and I imagine it’s easier to leverage them to do illegal things in these scenarios. It amazes me that someone who had no issues finding ethical work would not opt to out their employer.
Yeah, this struck me when they presented the list of options for Singh to avoid legal culpability -- these options often aren't available for more vulnerable members of the workforce, and being a software engineer doesn't preclude that. You can absolutely be a software engineer who can't afford to lose their job for either financial or visa reasons. What are they supposed to do then? Will whistleblower protections save you from losing your green card?
On whistleblower.gov, you can find information about retaliation projections by subject.
I wouldn’t think that lawful permanent residents - green card holders - would have to worry about losing their green card for whistleblowing.
For visa holders - like an H1-B visa - termination could theoretically cause issues. I don’t know much beyond the basics of U visas or whistleblower, but I did see this which gave me hope:
whistleblower.gov - U & T Visa Certifications