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Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

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Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#101

Post by 0xPersona »

yunwal wrote: post #45
biztos wrote: post #19

I am generally in favor of more privacy, but it’s hard picture the real-world use of this for anything other than overlapping jobs (“J2”) and evading sanctions. What else is it for?

I could see it being useful for jobs that make you a political target maybe? Security contracting, intelligence, or journalism?

Or even working in countries with generally higher crime or weaker rule of law. I spent years living in a country where even saying/posting something seemingly innocuous could put your life at risk.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#102

Post by 300bps »

0xPersona wrote: post #31
300bps wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do think there's no inherit reason why we need to know peoples' legal/irl identities in order to assert that they're suitable for a job. Respectfully, are you extremely young? Someone near me was recently convicted of embezzling $3.2 million from our local government. Should she be able to work as a city controller at another local government when she gets out of jail? I could bring up another certain population ap…

To clarify, I don't think pseudonymous work is appropriate for all types of work. I'm not a maximalist. Much of my thinking currently is about pseudonymous work in the context that I've noticed it being done, which is largely in cryptocurrency. Of course none of the people in the scenarios you mention should be able to work those jobs.

Much of my thinking currently is about pseudonymous work in the context that I've noticed it being done, which is largely in cryptocurrency.

Would you want to hire a pseudonymous cryptocurrency programmer who purposely created a security flaw at his last employer and then exploited his own flaw himself to drain all of his employer’s wallets? How is that any better?

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#103

Post by pc86 »

morpheuskafka wrote: post #74
coderintherye wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the U.S. at least, you are still legally required to report the legal identity of any contractor to the IRS and must ask them to fill out an I-9 form: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/complete-and-correct-form-... Any contractor making >= $600 have to fill the payment and they receive a 1099. There are very few exceptions to that and they are listed in the article.

You are required to solicit the taxpayer identification of anyone for whom you are required to file a 1099-NEC form--this is normally done on Form W-9. If the contractor fails to furnish a TIN, you are not required to cease business with them, however you will likely have to respond to the IRS and show that they refused to tell you when you file the 1099s each year. The IRS can assess a $50 civil penalty against the…

Half of what you said supports the comment you're replying to, and half of it is irrelevant.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#104

Post by chias »

swatcoder wrote: post #8

Aren't employers in most jurisdictions required to verify work eligibility and report income? Does "pseudonymously" just mean that they these employers commit to supporting your alternative identity when engaging with the public, the way publishers might handle a pen name? Or is this something different? I'm probably not the only person who will wonder about this, so it might help to put the answer as text on the sit…

I also have some more questions, such as:

* how do you provide me with health insurance and other governmental benefits?

* for the purposes of anything official, am I as an individual technically unemployed?

* how do you provide me with retirement options such as a 401k?

* how do you report on my earnings to the IRS?

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#105

Post by ghaff »

swatcoder wrote: post #67
0xPersona wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely! I would just posit that the organizations listed on the site seem to be handling this somehow (for now). I myself would be really curious as to how.

As a general tip: Trusting that someone doing something markedly unusual is "handling it somehow" is a great way to get some ugly surprises later. Companies do things wrong all the time and in many cases you can find yourself liable for their mistakes/abuses in some way or another. Sometimes at great cost. Obviously, you need to trust every employer/client to some degree, but you'll benefit yourself by developing a s…

Paying an anonymous person in crypto doesn't sound much different from slipping that same person an envelope of unmarked bills to do some work. Which is something people with fiduciary responsibility at a company are not going to generally sign off on.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#106

Post by happyopossum »

francisofascii wrote: post #69

Anyone know if security firms already do this by default? For example, if you work for the NSA, do your co-workers even know what your real name is?

That's going to depend more on what your role and assignment is than just the fact that you work for the NSA. In general though, working for the NSA isn't an anonymous act.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#107

Post by ljp_206 »

waspight wrote: post #80

So what is doxxing anyway? Is the concern that anyone googling you will find you phone number or address? Why is that so bad in general? As long as you are not in some unique position like a famous person or something.

I would be happy to start from a definition of doxxing and explain why it is not a good thing, but I am curious as to why you might not find the prospect of your address and phone number being revealed disturbing. Very boring, non-unique people get death threats all the time online. Even though the rate of online threats turning to violence against random users is demonstrably low, would you not be troubled to know your location was known to unknown potential harassers? Even disregarding physical assault, a potential attacker could make life online very difficult if they understood a few things about one's identity.

I also ask this as someone who is skeptical of the prospect of anonymous employment, so I acknowledge there is certainly a spectrum of perspective on this issue.

"As long as you are not in some unique position..." is reasoning that is very close to "as long as you have nothing to hide..."

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#108

Post by morpheuskafka »

waspight wrote: post #80

So what is doxxing anyway? Is the concern that anyone googling you will find you phone number or address? Why is that so bad in general? As long as you are not in some unique position like a famous person or something.

I think the vast majority of people greatly overestimate how difficult it would be to find someone's address.

If you either own property or vote in the US, its usually trivial to find you via the county GIS/tax database and the state voter records. At least it is here in NC. If you rent and don't vote, it's a bit harder, but still lots of data brokers and other sources to look to.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#109

Post by olalonde »

Might want to look at adult industry jobs, a lot of them offer remote work with minimal identity verification. Ironically, that's how I got my first development job when I was still in high school (the employer didn't know nor ask my age). It would have been a lot more difficult to get a similar job at a "regular" employer who knew my age.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#110

Post by jrumbut »

nightpool wrote: post #88
rgbrgb wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd guess that interaction is very common and not illegal anywhere I'm aware of.

In most jurisdictions, it is illegal to contract with someone for goods or services over a certain amount if you don't have their tax information. Otherwise, tax avoidance would be trivial. In the US specifically, you're required to file Form 1099 for any contracts over $600, which requires the other party's SSN, EIN, or another foreign tax identifier.

Some of the companies with job postings on that site seem to be headed by people in the US.

I'm not a lawyer but I think they're taking a serious risk.

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