Imagine that there are thousands of people in the same situation as you. Do you want all of them to testify or to keep their mouths closed?
Ask HN: Should I testify?
151–160 of 250 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#152Do the right thing.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
In corporate America, companies do not do illegal things, illegal things do companies.
I laughed, though it doesn't quite work, and I don't quite know how to fix it. In America, companies break the law. In Soviet Russia, the law breaks companies. Or something
In America, company fixes law.
In Soviet Russia, company fixes you!
"Ahha, but which is better?" asks Confucius.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with the advice above, and adding on to it, as a founder... If the case is morally and ethically sound then I wouldn't hold it against you, probably applaud you. On the contrary if it's a shakedown of sorts I would be questionable. As an exercise I would look into the recent lawsuit against VC firm Kleiner Perkins. Search the web for "kpbc lawsuit" and read how people have reacted to that case.
I'd agree with this; if it's something along the lines of "executives were embezzling from the company," I'd consider it a sign of integrity. If it's "Uber isn't complying with taxi regulations!" then I wouldn't want to work with you.
"Uber isn't complying with taxi regulations!"
->
"XXX isn't complying with YYY regulations!"
->
"Apple isn't complying with workforce competition regulations!"
So what you're saying is there's a certain level of integrity, and if someone goes over that level of integrity then they are too integer, and you don't want to work with them?
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would that be lying? Being forced to do something doesn't imply it was against your will. It simply means you didn't have any other choice.
It belies the fact that OP prompted the lawyers to subpoena him.
If you state "I won't cooperate unless I am ordered to by a court." then you did not prompt them for subpoena. The door is also still open for them to explain why they won't get a court order in which case you might still reconsider.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd agree with this; if it's something along the lines of "executives were embezzling from the company," I'd consider it a sign of integrity. If it's "Uber isn't complying with taxi regulations!" then I wouldn't want to work with you.
"Uber isn't complying with taxi regulations!" -> "XXX isn't complying with YYY regulations!" -> "Apple isn't complying with workforce competition regulations!" So what you're saying is there's a certain level of integrity, and if someone goes over that level of integrity then they are too integer, and you don't want to work with them?
No. What he is saying is that there are some common sense good laws he agrees with and there are some outdated laws that no reasonable person would want to continue to uphold and need to be changed but our grandpas in congress have not gotten around to it yet.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#157Let's be realistic: there are many companies that won't hire you after this. The question is, are those the companies that you want to work for? It's a tough choice, of course. You mention that the company you worked at is popular here on Hacker News. So let's assume we are talking about Apple or Google or perhaps AirBnB. So from now on, when people look up your name, they will see something like "Testified against A…
> You mention that the company you worked at is popular here on Hacker News. So let's assume we are talking about Apple or Google or perhaps AirBnB
Or Uber
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#158Let's be realistic: there are many companies that won't hire you after this. The question is, are those the companies that you want to work for? It's a tough choice, of course. You mention that the company you worked at is popular here on Hacker News. So let's assume we are talking about Apple or Google or perhaps AirBnB. So from now on, when people look up your name, they will see something like "Testified against A…
[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
This the truth of it. People are going to lie to you and tell you they wouldn't hold it against you. But they would.
Exactly. I think a lot of technical people are extremely naive about how corporate politics work. As we enjoy solving technical puzzles, a similar game is played by ambitious people in management at various levels, and ethics takes a seat at the back of the bus. Oh sure, they will say all the right words (if you can get them to say anything), but their actions are very different from words. And, they seem to be able…
Do these corporite politics apply to a company the size of, say, segment.io? How about Dropbox? Apple?
I have a hunch that they type of politics you encounter will vary widely based on the size of the company.
Edit: scare quotes were not needed
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#160I'm going to answer from my own experience, which may or may not fit your situation at all (you're kind of vague about it, so there's no way to judge). This is also in part inspired by the comment of humanarity ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9360218 ) Several years ago in The Netherlands we had a website blockade of The PirateBay. Most ISPs had to block it, it was stupid, and it did not work at all. The ISPs…
And now downloads have been made illegal. So you were right in the short term but the longer term effects were actually worse than the blockade was!
Still, kudos for standing up for what you felt was right and not giving in in the face of such pressure, that was pretty brave.