5 ms·

A "whistleblower" that first leaked all information to reporters, and then only claimed he was a whistleblower once Tesla figured out who it was. A "whistleblow

by zmarty 8y ago

A "whistleblower" that first leaked all information to reporters, and then only claimed he was a whistleblower once Tesla figured out who it was. A "whistleblower" that a few months later publishes all of these internal documents ON TWITTER.

camjohnson26 8y ago
Who should he have leaked it to? Where should he have published it?
- AnthonyMouse 8y ago
  > Who should he have leaked it to? The appropriate regulatory agency rather than the media. > Where should he have published it? Publishing internal documents is the last resort after everything else has failed.
  - AnaniasAnanas 8y ago
    What is wrong with publishing internal documents as the first step exactly?
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
      Internal documents can contain confidential business information that is of use to competitors etc. which it may be illegal or a violation of an NDA for you to expropriate and publish. Then it becomes a public exhibit of everyone attacking each other and defending themselves instead of people working to actually solve the problem. Moreover, "a company" doesn't do stuff, its employees do. If you're the employee, the first person whose job it is to keep the company from doing dumb stuff is you. And there is a process for that. If you're the one responsible for it, you fix it. If you're not, you alert the person who is, then their boss if that doesn't work and on up the chain to the government until it gets fixed. If that process works then the problem gets solved without there being anything to create a media storm over, and if that process would have worked but you decided to skip it then you're creating a media storm over nothing.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    Whistleblower protection laws generally do not require that the "appropriate regulatory agency" be the only person to whom disclosure is made... Publishing internal documents is the last resort after everything else has failed. No, that's usually the first and best option once the company has been made aware of the problem and chooses not to correct it...as is what is alleged happened here. Why make vague statements that Company X ignored Problem Y when you can just provide documents proving your claims?
    - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
      > Whistleblower protection laws generally do not require that the "appropriate regulatory agency" be the only person to whom disclosure is made... Whistleblower protection laws in some cases don't even exist and even where they do you're typically not going to have a fun time if you have to use them. When it comes down to it you do what you've got to do, but going there first rather than last is not a really great idea. > No, that's usually the first and best option once the company has been made aware of the problem and chooses not to correct it...as is what is alleged happened here. Why make vague statements that Company X ignored Problem Y when you can just provide documents proving your claims? For one thing, documents rarely prove anything on their own (how do you even know they're not forgeries?) without the investigatory powers needed to verify the information in them. Which the government has and Twitter doesn't.
      - gamblor956 8y ago
        For one thing, documents rarely prove anything on their own (how do you even know they're not forgeries?) without the investigatory powers needed to verify the information in them. Which the government has and Twitter doesn't. We don't. The government is also not the only entity that can perform forensics on purported documents. News companies do it all the time, and their are hundreds of e-forensics firms in the US and EU that could happily do it for a fee. There's also thousands of people with access to Twitter and the spare time to dig into any purported document leaks to verify them for accuracy. In fact, Twitter is a good (but not even remotely the best) way to get all the interested/competent parties aware of the documents.
- dylan604 8y ago
  I guess it depends on the intent of the whistle blower. Is there a Project Zero type of way to publish? Wikileaks? Why does it have to go to any gov't body first? If the information is leaked out, do the governing agencies have a responsibility to investigate based on the leaked information or only investigate the suspect for leaking? Paralysis by analysis can be applied here, so just publish and let the chips fall where they may?
  - FireBeyond 8y ago
    The ever-impartial Wikileaks? Sure, let's jump right on that...
    - stcredzero 8y ago
      The ever-impartial Wikileaks? Sure, let's jump right on that... I don't think such a site has to be that impartial. I'll just settle for not evil. It would be best if they had competitors.
      - rjplatte 8y ago
        They're indiscriminate, so I tend to "trust" them. They don't really care what they put out, AFAIK.
        FireBeyond 8y ago
        Unless it's material detrimental to the RNC after they've met with Donald Trump Jr, of course...
AndrewBissell 8y ago
Maybe he recognized that giving the information to SEC or DOJ would result in them dithering and keeping the information from the public for months or years on end as is their custom when facing complaints against well-heeled and connected corporate bad actors. Tripp believed dangerous batteries were being placed in Tesla cars being sold to the public. It seems like none have been seen in the wild -- maybe because he was wrong or maybe because his public revelations forced Tesla to change course.
- twblalock 8y ago
  Even his own lawyer thought it was wrong to publish the documents on Twitter. > Tripp believed dangerous batteries were being placed in Tesla cars being sold to the public. It seems like none have been seen in the wild -- maybe because he was wrong or maybe because his public revelations forced Tesla to change course. Based on his actions and his credibility problems, it is reasonable to assume he was intentionally dishonest and was pursuing a personal vendetta, rather than acting in the public interest.

by zmarty 8y ago

camjohnson26 8y ago

Who should he have leaked it to? Where should he have published it?

AnthonyMouse 8y ago
> Who should he have leaked it to? The appropriate regulatory agency rather than the media. > Where should he have published it? Publishing internal documents is the last resort after everything else has failed.
- AnaniasAnanas 8y ago
  What is wrong with publishing internal documents as the first step exactly?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
    Internal documents can contain confidential business information that is of use to competitors etc. which it may be illegal or a violation of an NDA for you to expropriate and publish. Then it becomes a public exhibit of everyone attacking each other and defending themselves instead of people working to actually solve the problem. Moreover, "a company" doesn't do stuff, its employees do. If you're the employee, the first person whose job it is to keep the company from doing dumb stuff is you. And there is a process for that. If you're the one responsible for it, you fix it. If you're not, you alert the person who is, then their boss if that doesn't work and on up the chain to the government until it gets fixed. If that process works then the problem gets solved without there being anything to create a media storm over, and if that process would have worked but you decided to skip it then you're creating a media storm over nothing.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Whistleblower protection laws generally do not require that the "appropriate regulatory agency" be the only person to whom disclosure is made... Publishing internal documents is the last resort after everything else has failed. No, that's usually the first and best option once the company has been made aware of the problem and chooses not to correct it...as is what is alleged happened here. Why make vague statements that Company X ignored Problem Y when you can just provide documents proving your claims?
  - AnthonyMouse 8y ago
    > Whistleblower protection laws generally do not require that the "appropriate regulatory agency" be the only person to whom disclosure is made... Whistleblower protection laws in some cases don't even exist and even where they do you're typically not going to have a fun time if you have to use them. When it comes down to it you do what you've got to do, but going there first rather than last is not a really great idea. > No, that's usually the first and best option once the company has been made aware of the problem and chooses not to correct it...as is what is alleged happened here. Why make vague statements that Company X ignored Problem Y when you can just provide documents proving your claims? For one thing, documents rarely prove anything on their own (how do you even know they're not forgeries?) without the investigatory powers needed to verify the information in them. Which the government has and Twitter doesn't.
    - gamblor956 8y ago
      For one thing, documents rarely prove anything on their own (how do you even know they're not forgeries?) without the investigatory powers needed to verify the information in them. Which the government has and Twitter doesn't. We don't. The government is also not the only entity that can perform forensics on purported documents. News companies do it all the time, and their are hundreds of e-forensics firms in the US and EU that could happily do it for a fee. There's also thousands of people with access to Twitter and the spare time to dig into any purported document leaks to verify them for accuracy. In fact, Twitter is a good (but not even remotely the best) way to get all the interested/competent parties aware of the documents.
dylan604 8y ago
I guess it depends on the intent of the whistle blower. Is there a Project Zero type of way to publish? Wikileaks? Why does it have to go to any gov't body first? If the information is leaked out, do the governing agencies have a responsibility to investigate based on the leaked information or only investigate the suspect for leaking? Paralysis by analysis can be applied here, so just publish and let the chips fall where they may?
- FireBeyond 8y ago
  The ever-impartial Wikileaks? Sure, let's jump right on that...
  - stcredzero 8y ago
    The ever-impartial Wikileaks? Sure, let's jump right on that... I don't think such a site has to be that impartial. I'll just settle for not evil. It would be best if they had competitors.
    - rjplatte 8y ago
      They're indiscriminate, so I tend to "trust" them. They don't really care what they put out, AFAIK.
      - FireBeyond 8y ago
        Unless it's material detrimental to the RNC after they've met with Donald Trump Jr, of course...

AndrewBissell 8y ago

Maybe he recognized that giving the information to SEC or DOJ would result in them dithering and keeping the information from the public for months or years on end as is their custom when facing complaints against well-heeled and connected corporate bad actors. Tripp believed dangerous batteries were being placed in Tesla cars being sold to the public. It seems like none have been seen in the wild -- maybe because he was wrong or maybe because his public revelations forced Tesla to change course.

twblalock 8y ago
Even his own lawyer thought it was wrong to publish the documents on Twitter. > Tripp believed dangerous batteries were being placed in Tesla cars being sold to the public. It seems like none have been seen in the wild -- maybe because he was wrong or maybe because his public revelations forced Tesla to change course. Based on his actions and his credibility problems, it is reasonable to assume he was intentionally dishonest and was pursuing a personal vendetta, rather than acting in the public interest.