6 ms·

Tesla sues ex-employee for hacking and theft. But he says he's a whistleblower

15 points by Element_ 8y ago

Element_ 8y ago
This Washington Post article has more details: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/06/20/tesla-sues-former-employee-as-elon-musk-signals-hunt-for-saboteurs/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/06/20...
smt88 8y ago
It took me longer than most others on HN, but I've recently come to see Musk as a dystopian figure. If anything Martin Tripp says is true, it'll be yet another reminder that we need great journalism to protect the public from corporate reality distortion fields. The interesting thing about this story is that both Tesla and Tripp should have irrefutable evidence to back up their version of the story, and it just remains to be seen who releases it.
- skellera 8y ago
  I highly doubt they’d go as far as framing him. But either way, we need to wait before going crazy with speculation. Both sides have not shown any evidence. If it’s true, someone got that data and should be building the story. If it isn’t, Tesla can prove pretty easily that the data is truly trade secrets and his whistleblower story is no longer makes sense.
  - smt88 8y ago
    Why wouldn't they frame him? I don't think they did, but they have a multibillion dolla incentive to do it. I think it's more likely that a lot of Tesla's side is spin to cover safety problems. But I still have no idea what the real story is either way.
- api 8y ago
  I knew back when everyone was worshipping Musk that in a few years everyone would turn on him. It's something we do as a culture: pump people up to celebrity status and then ritually sacrifice them (or their character at least). We do it to our celebrities and sometimes political figures too. It's our version of the old wicker man ceremony. Maybe it guarantees a bountiful harvest. Neither the hero worship of Musk nor the vilification is true. He's not superhuman. He can be an asshole and he overpromises and makes mistakes. But he's also someone with a record of taking on soul crushingly difficult problems and delivering major advances, and while he might be a hard driver he does not trip my sociopath alarm. In short he is an ambitious human who tries to lead immensely hard projects and sometimes succeeds. Seriously. Mass producing an ambitious new kind of car and reusable rockets. Those are literally two of the hardest things I can think of to attempt. Any degree of success in either is miraculous. He's succeeded to some extent leading Tesla and to a (IMHO) greater extent with SpaceX. That is pretty incredible. I get the sense that Tesla is really in trouble. Personally I'd be happy to see Elon sell it and double down on space. I think that's his true love anyway. Electric cars have enough momentum now they will tip with or without him.
awalton 8y ago
Whistleblowers leak evidence of wrongdoing not rumors. If this guy believes himself to be a whistleblower, all he has to do is provide the evidence of the wrongdoing, period. I'm willing to listen, but he's got miles to go before his claims are more than hot air.

15 points by Element_ 8y ago

This Washington Post article has more details: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/06/20/tesla-sues-former-employee-as-elon-musk-signals-hunt-for-saboteurs/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/06/20...

smt88 8y ago

It took me longer than most others on HN, but I've recently come to see Musk as a dystopian figure. If anything Martin Tripp says is true, it'll be yet another reminder that we need great journalism to protect the public from corporate reality distortion fields. The interesting thing about this story is that both Tesla and Tripp should have irrefutable evidence to back up their version of the story, and it just remains to be seen who releases it.

skellera 8y ago
I highly doubt they’d go as far as framing him. But either way, we need to wait before going crazy with speculation. Both sides have not shown any evidence. If it’s true, someone got that data and should be building the story. If it isn’t, Tesla can prove pretty easily that the data is truly trade secrets and his whistleblower story is no longer makes sense.
- smt88 8y ago
  Why wouldn't they frame him? I don't think they did, but they have a multibillion dolla incentive to do it. I think it's more likely that a lot of Tesla's side is spin to cover safety problems. But I still have no idea what the real story is either way.
api 8y ago
I knew back when everyone was worshipping Musk that in a few years everyone would turn on him. It's something we do as a culture: pump people up to celebrity status and then ritually sacrifice them (or their character at least). We do it to our celebrities and sometimes political figures too. It's our version of the old wicker man ceremony. Maybe it guarantees a bountiful harvest. Neither the hero worship of Musk nor the vilification is true. He's not superhuman. He can be an asshole and he overpromises and makes mistakes. But he's also someone with a record of taking on soul crushingly difficult problems and delivering major advances, and while he might be a hard driver he does not trip my sociopath alarm. In short he is an ambitious human who tries to lead immensely hard projects and sometimes succeeds. Seriously. Mass producing an ambitious new kind of car and reusable rockets. Those are literally two of the hardest things I can think of to attempt. Any degree of success in either is miraculous. He's succeeded to some extent leading Tesla and to a (IMHO) greater extent with SpaceX. That is pretty incredible. I get the sense that Tesla is really in trouble. Personally I'd be happy to see Elon sell it and double down on space. I think that's his true love anyway. Electric cars have enough momentum now they will tip with or without him.

awalton 8y ago

Whistleblowers leak evidence of wrongdoing not rumors. If this guy believes himself to be a whistleblower, all he has to do is provide the evidence of the wrongdoing, period. I'm willing to listen, but he's got miles to go before his claims are more than hot air.