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Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#351

Post by wordswordswords »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #29
wordswordswords wrote: post #13

Implemented ads to be served to customers who had specifically paid for an “ad-free experience.”

How did that work?

They were ads to upsell them on a higher level of subscription. The argument was that they were "promotions" from US, not advertisements, which were from a "third party."

Of course, this is nonsense. An in-house ad is still an ad. When someone pays for an "ad-free" experience, we know they don't expect that they will still receive a full-screen modal popup, even if it is a house ad.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#352

Post by TeMPOraL »

nyolfen wrote: post #82
akudha wrote: post #77

Not me personally, but the company I started my career with (was an intern there for a few months). ERM software. When a new client comes onboard, install the product and database, but make sure not to make any optimizations, not even the basic indexes in the DB. Depending on the usage, the DB will get slower and slower in a few months. Then send a "consultant" who will simply run a script and add indexes etc and tes…

i wouldn't sweat it, a lot of economic activity is just information arbitrage.

Yeah, that's in fact a good test for whether your work might be unethical - if you're relying on information arbitrage, you're screwing someone over.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#354

Post by quickthrower2 »

pmiller2 wrote: post #99
jonnyrockit wrote: post #76

Hard to believe there's no mention of working on projects for the NSA.

If you worked on something evil for the NSA, would you mention it? I’d like to think most HN posters aren’t that stupid.

1

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#356

Post by TeMPOraL »

marktangotango wrote: post #197
akudha wrote: post #77

Not me personally, but the company I started my career with (was an intern there for a few months). ERM software. When a new client comes onboard, install the product and database, but make sure not to make any optimizations, not even the basic indexes in the DB. Depending on the usage, the DB will get slower and slower in a few months. Then send a "consultant" who will simply run a script and add indexes etc and tes…

Car mechanics do this all the time, so what if an experienced mechanic can do a task in 1/10 the time, they always charge for the book time.

We have a mechanic now that constantly surprises us by billing us something like 2-5x times less than we expected. Turns out, he's good, and he bills us for actual time spent and parts cost. Like last time, I expected to pay ~$270, ended up paying $65 - $32.5 for parts, $32.5 for work time.

This guy only takes work from existing customers and people referred by them, because it's widely known in the local community that he's good, and has way more people wanting his services that he can handle. He could rise his prices, but it turns out, he's a decent human being.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#357

Post by wdr1 »

vumgl wrote: post #252
wdr1 wrote: post #109

Worked at Ticketmaster.

I worked at a company that was acquired by Ticketmaster, and I have a change to talk to one of the executives in casual way. They are not as bad as the may seem, but the business model is definitely intriguing. They go to a venue that hosts, say U2 for a concert. Say a U2 wants to sell a certain ticket for $100. Ticketmaster says: Look, If I get exclusive rights to sell your tickets, you will get not 95%, nor 100%, b…

Yep.

Ticketing is actually fairly complicated, both technically & as a business.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#358

Post by TeMPOraL »

nharada wrote: post #71
3pt14159 wrote: post #41

I suspect you're not going to get many personal stories here because it would be self-incriminating. But I have a couple from some people I know in tech. 1. I know the guy who, pre-Snowden, actually designed many of the pieces of network gear needed for the dragnet. His perspective was basically: Yes it's wrong, but what do I know? I just design electronic circuits. 2. Same guy also mentioned how at another company h…

> Yes it's wrong, but what do I know? I just design electronic circuits. This outlook, along with "well if I don't do it someone else will anyway", is why tech workers are quickly becoming the new bankers in the view of the public.

> This outlook, along with "well if I don't do it someone else will anyway", is why tech workers are quickly becoming the new bankers in the view of the public.

Which really annoys me, because while moral indifference of some tech workers is wrong, there are still the business guys actually giving the immoral orders. Those are conveniently forgotten in the new narrative.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#359

Post by r00fus »

Raed667 wrote: post #90
akudha wrote: post #77

Not me personally, but the company I started my career with (was an intern there for a few months). ERM software. When a new client comes onboard, install the product and database, but make sure not to make any optimizations, not even the basic indexes in the DB. Depending on the usage, the DB will get slower and slower in a few months. Then send a "consultant" who will simply run a script and add indexes etc and tes…

For the second part, I dont think about it as you sold a month of work. You just agreed with a customer that this task is worth X amount of money. If you managed to do it in one hour, that's just good business.

That's not ethical if it's a time&materials statement work agreement (because it's an estimate; if the actual work takes 10% over you bill that).

If it was a fixed-bid, then yeah it's completely fine. Though usually I'd say there should be a bit more time spent delivering some additional (canned) documentation and the like.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?

#360

Post by jplayer01 »

ndh2 wrote: post #166
rajacombinator wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about as far from unethical as you can get...

Well, the title asked for "most unethical", so, yea. It was against the terms of service...

Uhhh, just because it's against the terms of service doesn't mean it's unethical.
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