This is good advice not only for people who encounter fraud, but also those whose employers are profiting from war crimes and the like.
So Google, Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft etc.
Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
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Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#32> Frank was a student loan startup founded by Charlie Javice in 2016. In 2019, Javice was featured on the Forbes “30 under 30”
There was a joke going around Twitter about "30 under 30 doing 30 to life", because the startups involved were getting more and more outlandish to the extent that bystanders suspected that fraud was going on. Became a Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/06/forbes-30-u...
Of course, a fraud can stay afloat for a lot longer than you expect. The really tricky case is when you're ordered to do something illegal or unethical for which there is substantial political cover. An executive order, for example. You cannot rely on anyone to back you up simply because of the letter of the law.
Also:
> The reality was that this was a very deliberate double charge. I could not share this fact at the time – as the company threatened me with libel after I informed them of this detail
UK libel law routinely covers up all sorts of things which the public would benefit from having revealed, simply by the threat of an expensive lawsuit. It makes investigative journalism really uneconomic.
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#33It's easy to armchair quarterback these things, and in retrospect, the actions that innocent people should take are probably obvious. At the time I don't think it would be so easy. There is lots of pressure not to take action, because of the feeling you're overreacting, because you've had things explained to you in a way that minimizes or removes the criminality, and because your job is at stake. And crucially there…
> And crucially there is never some black and white issue. The three example given are quite black and white ...
Here are a few more examples:
https://leanpub.com/unethical-software-engineering/
Covert Surveillance
EMAIL PIXEL INJECTOR
STEALTHY INPUT LOGGER
Monetization at all costs
AGGRESSIVE ADVERTISER
AD BLOCKER DETECTOR
PAY TO WIN
ADDICTION PEDDLER
ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY HOARDER
DRM RUG PULLER
OBSOLESCENCE PLANNER
Digital Fraud
CYBERSQUATTER
SNEAKY TERMS DEGRADER
INTEROPERABILITY BREAKER
Ranking Manipulation
FAKE REVIEW GENERATOR
SEARCH RANKING KICKBACKER
Unethical Artificial Intelligence Practices
TRAINING DATA HARVESTER
BOT PRETENDER
DECEPTIVE DEEPFAKERRe: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#34Software developers should sign a code of ethics, like other professions do and then cite it when asked to do unscrupulous things. This would work for activities that aren't illegal but still unethical, like defaulting user privacy choices to open/public. Citing professional organizations like ACM or IEEE would deter retaliation.
The code of ethics would need to be absolute, enforceable, unambiguous (without lawyers to interpret), and universal to really eliminate these activities.
You can never make these kinds of things unambiguous. People are really creative about inventing interpretations to make things ambiguous in their favor, and rule systems are really complex.
More to the point is trying to be an ethical island in an unethical society, You'd have to deal with constant attacks from the "anti-woke" crowd.
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#35I'm quite firmly on the side of "don't do bad stuff", even way before crossing the line to wondering how you'd look in the proverbial orange jumpsuit. But two things about this are often under-discussed IMO.
Firstly, personal costs can be high even before full-blown whistleblowing, the struggles of which are well reported. The best case is usually that you're looking for a new job. It is clear to me that that's better than committing a crime or gravely unethical action, but not everyone always has good alternatives, enough financial safety, and no major economic responsibilities to cover at home.
This also goes for mental costs: I have previously come close to burnout spending months trying to rectify a clearly very bad and doomed situation. The only reward at the other end was the bitter vindication of seeing a project I deeply cared about crash and burn from afar after cutting my losses. And I personally know people who suffered far greater damage and took longer to recover from it, even in cases where they merely uncovered some big skeleton in the closet that was not even the fault of anyone currently in charge or clearly malicious. In many cases, management will be somewhere between actively complicit and themselves stuck in a bad situation with barely enough (perceived) agency to fix things the right way, which doesn't help.
Secondly, short of "going to war" and dedicating your entire life to changing something, saving yourself is usually the best you can hope for. That's obviously better than being complicit and possibly liable. I also like being able to sleep at night knowing I have principles. But if you have the righteousness to refuse to become complicit, it's quite frustrating to come to terms with the fact that you mostly won't be able to set things straight properly unless you are in a very influential position. I know that's often not really my responsibility if I'm not higher up, but it still doesn't sit right with me that I can't do more.
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#36> Frank was a student loan startup founded by Charlie Javice in 2016. In 2019, Javice was featured on the Forbes “30 under 30” There was a joke going around Twitter about "30 under 30 doing 30 to life", because the startups involved were getting more and more outlandish to the extent that bystanders suspected that fraud was going on. Became a Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/06/forbes-3…
> UK libel law routinely covers up all sorts of things which the public would benefit from having revealed, simply by the threat of an expensive lawsuit. It makes investigative journalism really uneconomic.
But the worst horror stories date from before it was last reformed, in 2013, I think, and I feel the need to patriotically point out that Australian libel law is even worse!
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#37I'm quite firmly on the side of "don't do bad stuff", even way before crossing the line to wondering how you'd look in the proverbial orange jumpsuit. But two things about this are often under-discussed IMO. Firstly, personal costs can be high even before full-blown whistleblowing, the struggles of which are well reported. The best case is usually that you're looking for a new job. It is clear to me that that's bette…
> not everyone always has good alternatives, enough financial safety, and no major economic responsibilities to cover at home.
I recommend planning for this (if you can). Set money aside sufficient to cover your costs until you can get another job so that you can quit at any time. Negotiate your deals so that you don't end up with substantial golden handcuffs (i.e. cash > equity, especially with long vesting periods).
This helps a lot with maintaining an ethical position, but is also helpful for other negotiations. Effectively you are maintaining a good BATNA[1].
[1]: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/valuation/wh...
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#38> Frank was a student loan startup founded by Charlie Javice in 2016. In 2019, Javice was featured on the Forbes “30 under 30” There was a joke going around Twitter about "30 under 30 doing 30 to life", because the startups involved were getting more and more outlandish to the extent that bystanders suspected that fraud was going on. Became a Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/06/forbes-3…
I've been doing this tech nonsense at moderately high levels for over 45 years now, and over the years I've had business dealings with members of these "30 under 30" lists, and every single fucking time it's a conman, a grifter. I don't even bother with heavily marketed individuals nor their flagships anymore. They are nonsense.
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#39Software developers should sign a code of ethics, like other professions do and then cite it when asked to do unscrupulous things. This would work for activities that aren't illegal but still unethical, like defaulting user privacy choices to open/public. Citing professional organizations like ACM or IEEE would deter retaliation.
Yes, the Hippocratic Oath works quite well even if it has no legal underpinnings, so why not use the same idea for developers? Indeed ACM and IEEE could draft one.
It only works because doctors have a self-governing body of other doctors as an oversight, usually called a chamber, board, Kammer, etc. This chamber is responsible for licensing doctors to perform medicine and has the power to withdraw that license upon violations of the Hippocratic Oath, other ethical violations and other professional misconduct or malpractice.
Unless you want this kind of arrangement for developers, the oath isn't any good.
Also, the Hippocratic Oath has tons of variants, nobody uses the original one anymore because there are things in there that went out of fashion over the last 2000 years. E.g. operating on people suffering from kidney stones used to be prohibited: "I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone[...]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath ). Similar prohibitions exist nowadays for abortions or euthanasia, but only in some places. In others, doctors are free to or even required to perform those. In software development, I would imagine even more variety in the allowed/prohibited-list.
Re: Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I would argue that you have a moral and ethical responsibility to say no when your manager asks you to do something illegal, even if it does cost you your job. When your access to food, housing, heating and healthcare for your family are dependent on your income, you may find yourself facing very difficult decisions. Most parents will risk whatever legal ramifications to care for their kids and that's inherent mora…
It is not moral to break the law in the furtherance of fraud. That’s the point.
But if the fraud secures the livelyhood of $bignum children and they would starve without their parents committing that fraud?