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There was no ethical lines crossed. If you have proof that he copied code from your repo then that is illegal. But if he copied the idea, there's nothing ethica

There was no ethical lines crossed. If you have proof that he copied code from your repo then that is illegal. But if he copied the idea, there's nothing ethically wrong with that. The one who crossed an ethical line is you. You can't protect ideas, only actual code. What is ethically wrong is bullying a former intern with legal threats. You need to learn this, I guess the hard way.

Me1000 5y ago
Not just legal threats, the whole line about being “the most demanding intern we’ve ever had” was an ad hominem attack that was completely out of line. It was cruel, mean, unnecessary, and unprofessional.
- chandra381 5y ago
  Yeah what was up with that?
  - jonny_eh 5y ago
    It was a tell about this guy's personality.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- atoav 5y ago
  Well even if they was "demanding" behaviour (whatever that even means), there would be no real way for the outside to check if it was true, without relying on the statements of persons involved. This is why such a statement should have been avoided altogether, especially if the other side seemes to be cooperating.
  - TeMPOraL 5y ago
    As much unnecessary such statement was, I could understand it if it was a) true, and b) stood alone in the correspondence. But apparently, he said it just after offering the guy a job (in a way that I read as implying he'd offer him a role of a senior engineer or a manager).
ChrisKnott 5y ago
Many people would say it's ethically wrong to copy an idea. In fact, it is common to see people up in arms on HN about it, when the power dynamic is reversed.
- pm90 5y ago
  > when the power dynamic is reversed. I mean, yes, that's definitely the case, isn't it? Punching below your weight is seen as unethical, right? The power dynamic is an important aspect of deciding the ethics of actions.
- atoav 5y ago
  Is Google copying your idea ethically really the same as you copying Googles idea? If they copy your idea they can literally destroy your existence given their resources, size, visibility, infrastructure, etc. If you copy their idea you first have to make many things better than them before even scratching on their turf. And before anyone says power dynamics are not relevant in ethics: In my philosophy studies I also studied ethics and yes — power dynamics are very relevant for ethics.
- hawthornio 5y ago
  > it's ethically wrong to copy an idea Who says this? Certainly we have intellectual property laws to protect novel, recent, and specific ideas. However, “Running code on another machine” doesn’t seem to meet any of those criteria.
  - Dah00n 5y ago
    You are blurring the lines now though so we end up with a discussion of where the red line is at. Intellectual property laws are national,so if a South Korean company copy the design of the iPhone they aren't breaking any US IP law (as of course you cannot break a US law outside the US as a non-US citizen). So novel, recent, and specific doesn't really matter unless we are lawyers. But it still gets HN'ers up in arms.
    - curtainsforus 5y ago
shapiro92 5y ago
Have you ever worked with git? It is obvious the intern has the codebase and the commit history and that is why when he published the new project part of the commit history of replit was on the new project, it is 100% obvious he has copied part of it yes.
- mpeg 5y ago
  What are you talking about? You can’t say that without providing proof, the commit history in his post does not show anything of the sort and the original project is gone from github
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
kordlessagain 5y ago
I’m just curious what racist rant you replied to me!!! :P

Me1000 5y ago

Not just legal threats, the whole line about being “the most demanding intern we’ve ever had” was an ad hominem attack that was completely out of line. It was cruel, mean, unnecessary, and unprofessional.

chandra381 5y ago
Yeah what was up with that?
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  It was a tell about this guy's personality.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
atoav 5y ago
Well even if they was "demanding" behaviour (whatever that even means), there would be no real way for the outside to check if it was true, without relying on the statements of persons involved. This is why such a statement should have been avoided altogether, especially if the other side seemes to be cooperating.
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  As much unnecessary such statement was, I could understand it if it was a) true, and b) stood alone in the correspondence. But apparently, he said it just after offering the guy a job (in a way that I read as implying he'd offer him a role of a senior engineer or a manager).

ChrisKnott 5y ago

Many people would say it's ethically wrong to copy an idea. In fact, it is common to see people up in arms on HN about it, when the power dynamic is reversed.

pm90 5y ago
> when the power dynamic is reversed. I mean, yes, that's definitely the case, isn't it? Punching below your weight is seen as unethical, right? The power dynamic is an important aspect of deciding the ethics of actions.
atoav 5y ago
Is Google copying your idea ethically really the same as you copying Googles idea? If they copy your idea they can literally destroy your existence given their resources, size, visibility, infrastructure, etc. If you copy their idea you first have to make many things better than them before even scratching on their turf. And before anyone says power dynamics are not relevant in ethics: In my philosophy studies I also studied ethics and yes — power dynamics are very relevant for ethics.
hawthornio 5y ago
> it's ethically wrong to copy an idea Who says this? Certainly we have intellectual property laws to protect novel, recent, and specific ideas. However, “Running code on another machine” doesn’t seem to meet any of those criteria.
- Dah00n 5y ago
  You are blurring the lines now though so we end up with a discussion of where the red line is at. Intellectual property laws are national,so if a South Korean company copy the design of the iPhone they aren't breaking any US IP law (as of course you cannot break a US law outside the US as a non-US citizen). So novel, recent, and specific doesn't really matter unless we are lawyers. But it still gets HN'ers up in arms.
  - curtainsforus 5y ago

shapiro92 5y ago

Have you ever worked with git? It is obvious the intern has the codebase and the commit history and that is why when he published the new project part of the commit history of replit was on the new project, it is 100% obvious he has copied part of it yes.

mpeg 5y ago
What are you talking about? You can’t say that without providing proof, the commit history in his post does not show anything of the sort and the original project is gone from github
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

kordlessagain 5y ago

I’m just curious what racist rant you replied to me!!! :P