Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 254 posts

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#171

Post by FireBeyond »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #68
zmarty wrote: post #49

Bloomberg conveniently left out the reason why "Tripp has since changed lawyers". It's because he published on Twitter a trove of confidential internal Tesla documents. Once he did that his lawyer knew they had no case anymore. Tripp only deleted the documents after his lawyer was able to get in touch with him. This showed that he did in fact access internal Tesla systems and he did in fact exfiltrate this informatio…

> he did in fact access internal Tesla systems and he did in fact exfiltrate this information Both sides can be true. He could have stolen Tesla’s data. He could have also thought he was whistleblowing while doing so. Either way, it doesn’t justify calling in a fake bomb threat.

> Either way, it doesn’t justify calling in a fake bomb threat.

Police investigated (it was a shooting incident, not a bomb threat), found no credible basis, asked to interview a witness, who Tesla declined to make available.

Why so sure he made a threat?

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#172

Post by drusepth »

praneshp wrote: post #42
xiphias2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go to Blind. He is doing micromanaging. Also he is ,,managing by Twitter''. Whether that is good or bad is not clear, but so far he has a great track record. Just look at the $35k Tesla that he pulled off by kicking out sales. A regular CEO wouldn't have done that. With all the chaos it has caused, Elon understands that at this point price is the most important part in the decision for buying a Tesla for lots of…

> Just look at the $35k Tesla that he pulled off by kicking out sales. A regular CEO wouldn't have done that. You know that's reversed right? https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2019/03/11/tesla-puts-brakes...

The decision to close most of the stores is (mostly) reversed, but the price drop to $35k for the Model 3 is not reversed.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1121980_tesla-will-rais...

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#173

Post by stcredzero »

FireBeyond wrote: post #169
dylan604 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it depends on the intent of the whistle blower. Is there a Project Zero type of way to publish? Wikileaks? Why does it have to go to any gov't body first? If the information is leaked out, do the governing agencies have a responsibility to investigate based on the leaked information or only investigate the suspect for leaking? Paralysis by analysis can be applied here, so just publish and let the chips fall w…

The ever-impartial Wikileaks? Sure, let's jump right on that...

The ever-impartial Wikileaks? Sure, let's jump right on that...

I don't think such a site has to be that impartial. I'll just settle for not evil. It would be best if they had competitors.

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#174

Post by drugme »

memling wrote: post #57
drugme wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With no corroboration, why should we believe him over Tesla at this point? Occam's Razor (and Tesla/Musks's record of erratic and vindictive behavior in other contexts) should provide ample basis for making that call.

> Occam's Razor This seems like an objectively bad idea to me. I'm not a Tesla or Musk fan, and it seems plausible he could try to destroy a whistleblower. Even so, "innocent until proven guilty" is the better standard. Occam's Razor is greatly influenced by our priors.

Occam's Razor isn't about determining criminal liability.

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#175

Post by FireBeyond »

drusepth wrote: post #155
legohead wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article, the call about the mass shooting came only hours after his email exchange with Musk.

This is, by definition, circumstantial "evidence" at best. It infers a connection between two events that have no direct evidence connecting them.

And then Tesla "declined" to make the call receiver witness available. And asked the Sheriff to put out a press conference anyway and say the threat was credible. And then put out their own press release when the Sheriff declined because it wasn't.

At some point, the progression of circumstances reduces the possibility of alternatives.

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#176

Post by _ea1k »

mhermher wrote: post #123
joekrill wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how we're jumping to the conclusion that Musk is responsible for this. No one seems to be claiming the "anonymous call" was made up, as far as I can tell. For all we know Tripp made the call himself to make himself look like more a victim. It's no less plausible than suggesting Musk made the call himself, or had someone make it on his behalf.

Read the article man. He kept pressing the police on it even though everyone involved knew it was all bullshit. The original tipster doesn't even matter at that point.

"The sheriff says that when he’d looked into the anonymous call after police confronted Tripp, the threat seemed less threatening than the company made it sound. The caller said Tripp was volatile but didn’t say he was on his way to shoot up the place. “You remember playing telephone as a kid?” Antinoro asks. “It got blown out of proportion.” He dropped the investigation when Tesla declined to make available a colleague of Tripp’s who might have called in the tip."

So basically an emotional phone call was recounted by a chain of people and blown out of proportion. Then the company felt the need to publicize it in order to get a little dirt on the shoes of the would be (and ultimately failed) whistleblower.

The sheriff sounds like a great and honest fellow, but the rest of this is just a mess. Of course, one employee running to the press with a "whistleblower" story that turns out to be misleading rubbish and doing billions of dollars in market damage isn't great. Responding to him this way isn't great.

What a mess.

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#177

Post by drugme »

legohead wrote: post #63
SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article certainly makes those claims. But Bloomberg doesn’t seem to have any evidence of those things, beyond Tripp’s raw assertion that his friends didn’t make the call and he didn’t do what the lawsuit says. With no corroboration, why should we believe him over Tesla at this point?

According to the article, the call about the mass shooting came only hours after his email exchange with Musk.

No -- according to the article, while a call did take place -- the "mass shooting" aspect of it was most made up by the Tesla people.

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#178

Post by FireBeyond »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #43

What I don't understand is why Bloomberg is not required to publish that they have any financial interest in Tesla. Bloomberg seems to only publish negative news about Tesla, and clearly has a bias, as if they hold or represent someone that holds a large short position. The story published by Bloomberg does not actually cite any sources, only what is already publicly known and what Tripp has personally claimed; and s…

"The shorts! The shorts!"

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#179

Post by meowface »

coldtea wrote: post #64
_Microft wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's CTO at SpaceX.

Which doesn't mean anything really. If you have founded the company and own it, you can be CTO and delegate all the real engineering / research work.

You can, except he says he spends the vast majority of his time doing engineering. There are lots of videos of him with a hardhat on working in his factories. Not PR videos, either. He's the head of product development for the cars, not just the CEO.

Hate the guy for his personality all you want; I can certainly understand why. But there's no need to downplay his achievements or skills.

Re: Elon Musk Tried to Destroy a Tesla Whistleblower

#180

Post by _ea1k »

thisisit wrote: post #130
zmarty wrote: post #49

Bloomberg conveniently left out the reason why "Tripp has since changed lawyers". It's because he published on Twitter a trove of confidential internal Tesla documents. Once he did that his lawyer knew they had no case anymore. Tripp only deleted the documents after his lawyer was able to get in touch with him. This showed that he did in fact access internal Tesla systems and he did in fact exfiltrate this informatio…

Let's assume for a moment this story was about ExxonMobil an oil company, or any company you dislike will you still hold this opinion? Remember whistleblowing as an act requires people to produce confidential internal documents.

If the evidence against XOM was some pictures of some trailers and complaints of the company being disorganized, then yes, I would treat them the same way.
Post reply on HN