I am just so sick of all the cheating. Every time you turn around, some business, politician, or wealthy person is corrupt as f** and everyone who can do anything about it won't.
It's almost as if the people should form a more perfect union.
Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
191–200 of 409 posts
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Those annual trainings are there to show compliance. And also obeisance -- on the part of the person required to sit through these trainings (and pretend that they had some connection to reality).
meh. I'd be happy to sit in a chair and watch nonsensical videos for $100/hr any time you like.
Not when you have a deadline and your stuff is behind, you don't :-)
Happily, it was better than that. Most of these courses were online, and you could just let the videos of actors working through scenarios run in the background and then answer some simple questions. The questions never varied and the correct answer was usually pretty obvious (e.g., don't pick any answer that includes hiding a body).
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#193If a government organization would want to use a Linux, how hard would it actually be? Is it a viable alternative?
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, it is mindbogglingly unimaginable to people who spent their whole lives living in the west, but as someone who moved out of Russia over a decade ago, it is the exact same thing there. Extremely normalized in every single aspect. Applying for a passport? Well, you can do it normally, wait 9-12 months, hope papers don't get lost in the process (again), and maybe eventually you will be able to get it after a 2nd or…
I suspect things may have improved in Russia since then, there is plenty of screwed up stuff but in my adult life I (and as far as I know my friends) had never been forced to bribe someone to accomplish something (passport, driving license, etc.), much less routinely do so. But then I was a small self-employed fish, and in fact due to my expectation of bribery I chose not to execute any business ideas in Russia. (Whi…
It might also depend on where in Russia specifically. Moscow and Saint Petersburg are its own thing pretty much, so I can totally believe that things have improved there. But imo the further away you go from those two largest cities and the smaller the population is, the worse it would get.
I lived in a city of about half a million people about 800 miles east of Moscow (still in the European part of it though, not past-the-mountains regions), and it was definitely still the case there as of a few years ago (because my dad moved back there a while ago).
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#195The only way to stop this is to give the whistleblower a large cut of the fine: say, 50%. That will drive up the incentive to whistleblow; otherwise, all you get is a pink slip and a spot in the soup kitchen line.
The US SEC started a similar program in 2012, but with a smaller cut (10-30%). It's been quite successful, with $1 billion+ in whistleblower awards so far
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#196Fair play to this guy whoever he is. If only more people had his integrity.
He is an anomaly, and we are lucky that people like him exist. The system incentivizes pretentious, artifice people who trick people via skulduggery. And, M$ should realize that committing such unforgivable sins like corruption in Africa means they are responsible for hunger and poverty in Africa. If the atrocities were committed by Chinese/Indian companies, the media would have vehemently criticized those countries…
> If the atrocities were committed by Chinese/Indian companies, the media would have vehemently criticized those countries and companies. But, as long as US and EU are involved media seems to be silent which I don't like.
That's ridiculous. Compare Ericsson to ZTE/Huawei, for example. Of course it'll get coverage in the US media though, it's mainly the US DOJ that will prosecute those foreign companies for bribery - not their own governments.
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
That suggests that human beings are substantially different outside our borders, and that ethics are not universal.
Sounds right to me. In fact that’s one of the main reasons why we have different nations and borders in the first place. We should not assume our WEIRD values are universal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology#WEIRD_bias
> In fact that’s one of the main reasons why we have different nations and borders in the first place.
I'm not so sure about that. We have different cultures, to be sure, and certainly different governments to which we pledge allegiance, each with limited reach. But the modern concept of statehood and universally-recognized, clearly-delineated borders is a relatively new phenomenon, dating only back to the 20th century. Borders and distinctions between territories before then were rather blurry. See, e.g., http://www.dpi.inpe.br/gilberto/references/robinson_boundari....
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in Kazakhstan and while I don't have any evidence, I'm pretty sure that many huge western companies operating here bribed officials. I don't think that's necessary part of local culture. Of course in poor country officials with $200/month salary are happy to get $1000 gift for signing $100 000 agreement. Western companies are huge part of corruption source here. That's my opinion. I've heard that Ikea decided…
> I don't think that's necessary part of local culture > Ikea decided not to bribe officials, so they didn't get approval to build their shops here Pick one
I can tell you that on a "small" scale that's not something required, at least I did not pay bribes in my little life, although sometimes it could make things faster or cheaper I guess, but that's my principles as I hate corruption.
Now Ikea-scale that could be unavoidable but I prefer not to have Ikea rather than living with corrupt officials around riding in their Mercedeses, showing off that living a honest life is strictly worse than living a criminal life. So children learn that you have to demand bribes to be successful in this life. That's never-ending circle. And worse of all it's partially fueled by foreign companies.
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
My thoughts exactly. Every year, the Standards of Business Conduct training talks about not bribing foreign officials and devs are like “who the hell is ever in that position anyway?”.
If it helps, I had to sit through all that stuff at Amazon as well. I was in the bit that makes consumer electronics and never dealt with contracts in any way, yet still had to spend time learning not to make or take bribes from wholesalers or international businesses or governments. Every. Single. Year. Initially the training software was badly written so you could just open up DevTools and type "v = document.queryS…
Yea, those simple times have passed. Ours require clicks at various points ("Next" and testing questions at the end of sections), so i accumulate them until there are 4-5 of such mandatory crap due and do them simultaneously. I suppose in time they will catch onto that too, and you'd be able to run only one at a time.
Re: Microsoft is tied to hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign bribes
#200Bribing in Africa is so common it could be considered a business practice
And in many other parts of the world. It is so bad that businesses in n the US did adopt it as a practice. The ballooned to such epic porportions that the US Senate sponsored a bill to make it in illegal. If it had been kept down to a mild roar the law would still be missing from the books.
It is still bad because the incentives are still in place. Throw a little bit of money at a few people, get your business locked in. If you get caught you pay a very small portion of the profits and get to keep your business deal in place.
The fines are a joke, and the rules are indeed for the little people.