Epic
I Worked for a Criminal Organization
81–90 of 234 posts
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Poland you're only required to report a crime if you're a civil servant and the crime is related to your job.
Here in Norway there are special provisions for tax fraud and money laundering. It doesn't apply to "normal" crime only those. But it does apply for everyone not just civil servants.
So if for example I know that my uncle is not paying all his taxes I'm a criminal too unless I report him? Or is it only for bigger frauds?
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Poland you're only required to report a crime if you're a civil servant and the crime is related to your job.
Here in Norway there are special provisions for tax fraud and money laundering. It doesn't apply to "normal" crime only those. But it does apply for everyone not just civil servants.
Here in North America, you just donate 2% of your ill gotten gains to your local Congressperson!
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> They insisted I never talk to any LEO > Nothing wrong with this ... Depending on where they're located, failure to report certain types of crime to law enforcement may itself be a crime.
In many, if not most companies, taking legal matters into your own hands without involving your company’s legal team will surely get you reprimanded if not fired. Just like how you would get fired if you sent out a legal demand letter to another company without legal being in the loop. Law enforcement is no different: they are not your friend.
Your employer isn't your friend either and most of them will gladly throw you under the law enforcement bus if it comes to that.
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ethics. Where were yours?
I’m not saying what OP did is right, however, is creating tools that could possibly bypass a governments’ laws always an ethical issue? Would the creators of VPN software need to consider ethics since it could break government censorship? Or if the government requested I create a backdoor for them, would that also be an ethical issue?
Creating a tool that can theoretically be abused to break laws? No.
Selling a tool with a law-breaking feature, in full knowledge that its main selling point is that feature, that your customers are buying it specifically to break the law? That ought to raise some ethical concerns. You can say that it depends on the particular laws being broken - but here we're not talking about ethical minutiae of censorship or surveillance. We're talking the usual defrauding of the commons through tax evasion.
Creators of VPN software definitely need to consider ethics when deciding who to sell to, what uses to tolerate, what information to store, and how to navigate local laws. Such a business has to deal directly with conflicting needs of citizens, criminals and governments, and thus whatever it does, it's making an ethics choice one way or another.
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The mechanic may have even made even more money by scrapping your catalytic converter. Oh, certainly. Not to mention that removing it would have been a larger & more difficult job, which I'd have to pay for... OR they can get less money but it's (very) easy money. >completely removing the air-filter (dangerous) Good god... Who the hell does that? What ricer would willingly risk killing their motor from eating some l…
The answer is: every old Japanese car with their hood open on a Friday evening at sheetz.
This guy knows what he's talking about!
Also, Sheetz is a regional gas station (once) popular with street and track racers. I guess it still is, but their food quality has gone through the floor.
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here in Norway there are special provisions for tax fraud and money laundering. It doesn't apply to "normal" crime only those. But it does apply for everyone not just civil servants.
Here in North America, you just donate 2% of your ill gotten gains to your local Congressperson!
Doesn't US have an "ill gotten gains" field on the tax form?
EDIT: Apparently, your illegal income is regularly taxable, and expenses related to (most) illegal activity are tax-deductible. Cool!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_of_illegal_income_in_....
"The U.S. Supreme Court in Tellier reiterated that the purpose of the tax code was to tax net income, not punish unlawful behavior."
I do appreciate this sentiment. Separation of concerns.
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#88The only substantial difference between this company and, say, Facebook, is that Facebook generally knows how to budget properly. Facebook and other large successful companies try to only commit crimes when they know the profit from doing so exceeds the risk of being caught and punished.
Well FB
- lets you sign a waiver that you are willing to receive spam
- ensures that you sign with your real name, not a shell
- are not a helpless child that can be endangered
This together guarantees that neither a crime is committed nor enabled.
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of non-regular-maintenance jobs are easy & quick to do but break the law - for example, deleting the catalytic converter or EGR from the exhaust system will give your engine better performance and economy, but is illegal since it increases emissions. Lots of places will do it anyway on a cash job if they think they can get away with it, because it's relatively easy money. A shop replaced my failed catalytic con…
At first I couldn't see how this could work - I assume there is no yearly government check up on your cars including emissions? https://www.bilprovningen.se/boka-besiktning.html
Correct, not in Australia.
Re: I Worked for a Criminal Organization
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
My first sale of my selfwritten software (about 35 years ago) was for a car driving instructor. The initial sales conversations where difficult. I thought they did not see the advantages of having their planning & bookkeeping in a computer... How wrong I was. It was their "creative bookkeeping" that worried them. When I offered to make that all possible ('zapping' as it is called now), they loved it. Based on their r…
Did it bother you that you were facilitating crimes?
Tax evasion is a fairly soft crime, it’s shouldn’t be surprising there are people okay with facilitating it.
It’s not difficult to find people who believe, rightly or wrongly, the tax system is unfair.