3 ms·

Unfortunately, many engineers like to pretend their work is apolitical, but there is "No Neutral Ground in a Burning World"[1]. Everything is political, eventua

by pdkl95 9y ago

Unfortunately, many engineers like to pretend their work is apolitical, but there is "No Neutral Ground in a Burning World"[1]. Everything is political, eventually; technology patently has political consequences that are large in scope, highly complex, and difficult to understand fully. When you are implementing a new technology, please take some time to actively consider all of the potential consequences you can think of. Maybe your new tech just needs simple safety-considerations similar to power tools (dangerous, if misused). Maybe your new tech will disrupt existing structures that many people rely on; do you have a plan to handle that? Can someone easily use your new tech to undermine civil rights or basic freedoms? Obviously we can't foresee everything, but we can at least try to consider the potential consequences to the world, society, and people outside of tech. I know it's hard to walk away from a cool idea. It's even harder to do the right thing when it risks your salary - or your safety. For better or worse, this kind of question needs to be part of the new-tech development process. As Dan Geer said[4][5] in a recent keynote, "You have not picked a career. You have picked a crusade." [1] I strongly encourage everyone to watch this 30c3 talk[2] by Quinn Norton and Eleanor Saitta (or read the transcript[3]). [2] https://media.ccc.de/v/30C3_-_5491_-_en_-_saal_1_-_201312272300_-_no_neutral_ground_in_a_burning_world_-_quinn_norton_-_eleanor_saitta https://media.ccc.de/v/30C3_-_5491_-_en_-_saal_1_-_201312272... [3] http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/no-neutral-ground-burning-world/ http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/no-neutral-ground-burn... [4] http://geer.tinho.net/geer.source.27iv17.txt http://geer.tinho.net/geer.source.27iv17.txt [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcIiD4UUDE8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcIiD4UUDE8

pmoriarty 9y ago
The most overtly political act most software engineers are likely to make is to choose GPL over BSD or vice-versa. Walk away from a cool idea for ethical reasons? Risk their salary or their safety? I'm sure such engineers must exist, but they're not among any I've ever known. Unfortunately, I am rather pessimistic. We're in this Orwellian/Huxlean dystopia for a reason.
- rtpg 9y ago
  Hopefully you can spread discussion about ethics enough to where engineers can make these decisions even before joining the companies. I imagine many of us would _not_ want to work at a multi-level marketing outfit, considering how they mostly all work through exploitation. By having these discussions we can make sure that companies with dubious ethics will have an even harder time recruiting. There was a story a couple years back about a guy who wanted to form a "white supremacist village" in the countryside, and couldn't get anybody to join him. You talk enough about something, and it does have effects eventually (even if only temporary).
- pdkl95 9y ago
  > they're not among any I've ever known You just met one. In the mid 90s, when I was writing firmware and drivers for HIPPI[1] networking equipment, the Malaysian government bought a bunch of out hardware (indirectly), as part of a big system that was supposed to receive a bunch of TV channels from satellite, buffer it for a couple minutes on disk, and then re-broadcast the streams on local TV channels. The buffer, of course, allowed for the "live" TV streams to be censored on the fly. This was before flash was cheap an ubiquitous, so the firmware for the FPGAs was on a socketed EEPROM. Changing the firmware required removing the chip and a computer with PROM programmer hardware. Bugs happened[2], and my boss decided I needed to make "our biggest customer" happy by flying to Malaysia with an --undeclared-- bag of EEPROMs with better firmware and personally updating their hardware. It was my first "real" job, but I was still 3 more years of classes away from my bachelors, so I was getting crap intern wages of $11/hr. When I started to suggest I didn't really want to smuggle chips into an notoriously authoritarian state to help them censor their TV, my boss immediately offered me a 6-figure salary and a $60,000 cash bonus. I was seriously tempted. Instead, I gave them my 2-weeks notice the next day... (side note: a few years earlier, the NSA offered me a full 4-year scholarship (inc. housing and cash stipend), but the "you just need to work for us for 150% time (6-years) after you graduate" price tag made that offer a lot easier to turn down) [1] https://hsi.web.cern.ch/HSI/hippi/procintf/pcihippi/pcihipde.htm https://hsi.web.cern.ch/HSI/hippi/procintf/pcihippi/pcihipde... [2] actually, it turns out our PCI interface chip was faulty[3] [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10609033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10609033

by pdkl95 9y ago

pmoriarty 9y ago

The most overtly political act most software engineers are likely to make is to choose GPL over BSD or vice-versa. Walk away from a cool idea for ethical reasons? Risk their salary or their safety? I'm sure such engineers must exist, but they're not among any I've ever known. Unfortunately, I am rather pessimistic. We're in this Orwellian/Huxlean dystopia for a reason.

rtpg 9y ago
Hopefully you can spread discussion about ethics enough to where engineers can make these decisions even before joining the companies. I imagine many of us would _not_ want to work at a multi-level marketing outfit, considering how they mostly all work through exploitation. By having these discussions we can make sure that companies with dubious ethics will have an even harder time recruiting. There was a story a couple years back about a guy who wanted to form a "white supremacist village" in the countryside, and couldn't get anybody to join him. You talk enough about something, and it does have effects eventually (even if only temporary).
pdkl95 9y ago
> they're not among any I've ever known You just met one. In the mid 90s, when I was writing firmware and drivers for HIPPI[1] networking equipment, the Malaysian government bought a bunch of out hardware (indirectly), as part of a big system that was supposed to receive a bunch of TV channels from satellite, buffer it for a couple minutes on disk, and then re-broadcast the streams on local TV channels. The buffer, of course, allowed for the "live" TV streams to be censored on the fly. This was before flash was cheap an ubiquitous, so the firmware for the FPGAs was on a socketed EEPROM. Changing the firmware required removing the chip and a computer with PROM programmer hardware. Bugs happened[2], and my boss decided I needed to make "our biggest customer" happy by flying to Malaysia with an --undeclared-- bag of EEPROMs with better firmware and personally updating their hardware. It was my first "real" job, but I was still 3 more years of classes away from my bachelors, so I was getting crap intern wages of $11/hr. When I started to suggest I didn't really want to smuggle chips into an notoriously authoritarian state to help them censor their TV, my boss immediately offered me a 6-figure salary and a $60,000 cash bonus. I was seriously tempted. Instead, I gave them my 2-weeks notice the next day... (side note: a few years earlier, the NSA offered me a full 4-year scholarship (inc. housing and cash stipend), but the "you just need to work for us for 150% time (6-years) after you graduate" price tag made that offer a lot easier to turn down) [1] https://hsi.web.cern.ch/HSI/hippi/procintf/pcihippi/pcihipde.htm https://hsi.web.cern.ch/HSI/hippi/procintf/pcihippi/pcihipde... [2] actually, it turns out our PCI interface chip was faulty[3] [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10609033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10609033