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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

#261

Post by cs137 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #176
cs137 wrote: post #129

This sounds like a good thing, but I'm not sure it is. Capital wins under the current system because the bad guys control your reputation and career, but capital will win under a pseudonymous work system too because careers will cease to exist (or, in any case, will be difficult to assemble) and the commoditization of labor will be complete. I'm a very "out" antifascist, and I've lost jobs due to my public not-liking…

> I'm a very "out" antifascist, and I've lost jobs due to my public not-liking-fascists That kind of statement makes me curious. What kind of behavior do you exhibit that has cost you jobs?

To start, I've written about what would happen in event of a violent revolution in the US. Mind you, I'm not advocating for it--completely the opposite, because the answer is: it would be fucking terrible and there's a very high chance of the bad guys (fascist "populists") taking it over, even if it started on the left (which is itself improbable, because almost all the violent assholes are right-wing racists). One company, which did about 20% clearance-required work, rescinded an offer at 7:57 on the fucking morning I was about to start because "we don't see you getting a security clearance", even though I had a crack clearance attorney review my case and say that I was clearable.

I also exposed some illegal/unethical hiring and fundraising practices, and made enemies of some high-profile VCs. I don't talk to the press these days (don't trust 'em) but my reputation in the startup world is ruined. I'm enough of a whistleblower that my name will have negative value in Silicon Valley for the rest of my life (which is fine, because fuck Silicon Valley).

It probably doesn't hurt at this point, but certainly doesn't help, that I have PTSD and, in the past--say, 10 years ago--I was not as good at controlling it, recognizing when I was sufficiently impaired to need to pull back from the internet, and doing so.

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

#262

Post by thephyber »

I’m not sure I would hire anyone pseudonymously except for work that could be done on, say, Upwork or MechTurk (small assignments that don’t require sensitive access).

I would look at the US CISA guidance[1] on North Korean hacker MOs and consider the possibility that the person you hire might be using the opportunity to drain your company of finances, IP, or to sabotage your infrastructure. They may not work for North Korea, but consider the possibility they might abuse your trust in a similar way.

[1] https://cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa20-106a

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

#263

Post by cs137 »

titanomachy wrote: post #206
rootusrootus wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a very "out" antifascist, and I've lost jobs due to my public not-liking-fascists That kind of statement makes me curious. What kind of behavior do you exhibit that has cost you jobs?

I'm also interested. If I'm running a company that has to do business with ordinary people, I want to avoid hiring someone who vocally and publicly espouses radical political views that many people would react to negatively. Even if they are "pseudonymous", since it could still become known later on that they are associated with the company. Different people define "fascism" so differently that being "antifascist" co…

> being "antifascist" could mean anything from protesting against the KKK, to actively working to bring down the capitalist world order (which happens to be the framework in which most companies have to operate.)

I'd say I'm between the two.

I'm a radical by US false-consciousness standards, but a moderate by sane-people standards. I do want to bring down the capitalist world order, but I'm not going to behave unethically, break laws blithely, or fuck over an employer who treats me well in service to that goal.

In general, I'm against violence unless absolutely nothing else will work (and I don't think we're at that point yet, although we may get there). Violent revolutions tend to see a transfer of control from the originial vanguard (who were willing to use violence to achieve a goal, but who didn't seek out the opportunity to use it) to mindless thugs who just want to be paid to hurt people.

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

#264

Post by woodruffw »

Canada wrote: post #260
woodruffw wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For the purposes of anything official, you are unemployed. You would not get any retirement options. Your earnings would not be reported to the IRS. That's called "job fraud," and it's a crime in most countries.

Really? If I were living in the US and I pay a guy to pull the weeds in my garden it's "job fraud"? I'm not a lawyer, but that's not a crime in any country I've lived in. Which countries is that a crime in?

Yes, it is. Tax authorities don’t really care about petty versions of it (like your example of a gardener), but they do care if you’re effectively a FTE being paid under the table.

(The gardener might also be filing 1099s or the equivalent without you knowing, but that doesn’t seem likely.)

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

#265

Post by dennis_jeeves1 »

Canada wrote: post #260
woodruffw wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For the purposes of anything official, you are unemployed. You would not get any retirement options. Your earnings would not be reported to the IRS. That's called "job fraud," and it's a crime in most countries.

Really? If I were living in the US and I pay a guy to pull the weeds in my garden it's "job fraud"? I'm not a lawyer, but that's not a crime in any country I've lived in. Which countries is that a crime in?

woodruffw is right, you have to come to terms with the fact that a gov by default is made up of lowlifes. It actually gets worse, legally if you do not pay the guy who pulled weeds, you have to pay the tax on what his services would have been worth in the market. Well - it's true of Canada also :). Bonjour!

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

#266

Post by jrsj »

HWR_14 wrote: post #134
jrsj wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

threatening someone who has the ability to intentionally introduce a vulnerability into even a relatively small cryptocurrency probably has the potential to be insanely profitable, and the odds of it even being investigated are far lower than any other form of fraud (for now). There’s plenty of good reasons to go after some specific blockchain engineers who could do this, but otherwise yeah it seems kind of silly and…

If the oversight on your project is so weak that an engineer can add code that steals money without being noticed, all you do is change who profits from the inevitable theft. In fact, if you allow the code to be delivered anonymously, you practically guarantee that smart people will add the vulnerability and steal the money.

I think stronger oversight and less trust is sort of implicit in a pseudo-anonymous model. An attack like I described doesn’t require something as obvious as “code that steals money” either, it could be something much more innocuous that even afterwards appears to have been a mistake. Almost any type of bug combined with a well timed leveraged short position could result in big profits.

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

#267

Post by SiberianDweller »

coderintherye wrote: post #37
that_guy_iain wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would suspect you would not be considered an employee but a contractor. I am not sure how they much they're required to report about their vendors.

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.

"Oh say, can you see ... Land of the free"

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

#268

Post by jrsj »

zichy wrote: post #73
jrsj wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively they could be from non-crypto tech startups, 90% of which are working on stuff that is just as bullshit and never would have been funded in the first place if not for post 2008 monetary policy. Crypto isn’t special in being bullshit, this whole industry is full of a lot of bullshit.

The fact that there are many bullshit companies out there does not change the fact that all web3/blockchain companies are bullshit.

Depends on how you define “bullshit” I guess but from my perspective there’s at least profits being made and money being exchanged. That’s less bullshit then a company that just takes VC money, hires people, and ultimately implodes without actually delivering any value.

And even if you look purely at social utility, if all this shit does is provide a test bed for ideas that end up utilized in future central bank digital currencies then they’ll probably have been worth it.

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

#269

Post by jrsj »

nightpool wrote: post #112
jrsj wrote: post #53

Most of this stuff is in crypto/smart contract/DeFi space…which is currently imploding. That being said I do like the idea of anon friendly work. Not even for the anonymity, but for being full async. I’ve tried looking for opportunities for work outside of my 9-5 in the past and it surprised me how difficult it was to find anything. Ultimately I gave up and cut some expenses instead.

Most salaried 9-5 jobs have conflict of interest clauses that prevent you from concurrently working for other employers without agreement from your first employer anyway (From a legal standpoint, this is generally regarded as part of the difference between salaried and hourly labor)

Fuck em, that will never hold up in court and they won’t even waste their time suing over it anyways.
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