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Ex-eBay exec pleads guilty to harassing Ina and David Steiner
- veltas 4y agoThis is really an outrageous, unethical, disproportionate response to a negative article, what kind of psychos are working at eBay?
- pfortuny 4y agoThe same as elsewhere. The fact that he is an eBay employee is irrelevant.
- usrn 4y agoEbay seems like a unique company. I don't know if they still do this but at one point they were using web sockets to port scan customers networks.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- newsclues 4y agoI think this kind of psycho is the norm in the upper echelon of government and business. We shouldn't think it is only eBay that is rotten.
- FredPret 4y agoIf this was the norm, society would have collapsed long ago
- newsclues 4y agoI think the length of time it has taken for our society to collapse is a testament to the quality of civilization we destroyed (are destroying).
- FredPret 4y agoWhat collapse? Information and science is being preserved; trust is so high that we're all willing to accept numbers in a database as being money; kids are being educated now much better than I was.
- dotopotoro 4y agoWhy? I sense assumption that decency at the top is required for society to function. Counterpoints would be (sadly): a. most of the history is wars. b. Slavery was a norm for a very very long time. c. North Korea.
- unityByFreedom 4y agoIt seems as simplistic to say it's the norm as it is to say it's an isolated case. Why not just prosecute where there is evidence of wrongdoing.
- mschuster91 4y agoNone of the perpetrators of the 1985 bombing in Philadelphia - committed by police - ever got hauled in front of a court [1]. Abuse of power rarely gets punished if you are high enough in the chain. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_MOVE_bombing
- the_only_law 4y agoRichard Helms destroyed documents regarding the CIA and their work in torturing US citizens and died and free man.
- DaiPlusPlus 4y ago> what kind of psychos are working at eBay? People who presumably got rejected by Amazon for being too evil even for them...
- GekkePrutser 4y agoI thought they go to Oracle :)
- thg 4y agoOnly if they're lawyers
- Broken_Hippo 4y agoThe same sort that are peppered throughout society. Working at eBay just meant they likely had access to more funds than the folks that stalk people and call the new jobs to harass them or get them fired.
- ciabattabread 4y agoThe same ones that work at Salesforce. [1] (The former CEO was either blind to the activities of his direct reports, condoned their actions, or actively participated in criminal behavior. All are disqualifying offenses.) [1] https://www.salesforce.com/company/leadership/bios/bio-wenig/ https://www.salesforce.com/company/leadership/bios/bio-wenig...
- nullc 4y agoWhat do you expect from a company that runs a superbowl commercial that attacks space exploration, for no apparent reason or connection with their company?
- lbriner 4y agoDid they think they would get away with it or did it just become a game? I assume in the US, the punishment for this sort of thing is pretty severe?
- unityByFreedom 4y agoI wonder if some people around 2016-2018 felt they had free rein to do whatever because so much other crazy stuff was going on.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- arminiusreturns 4y agoI have a manager that used to work at eBay that is literally the worst manager I've ever had in my life. I wonder if there was a certain culture there?
- encryptluks2 4y agoSounds like it. Toxic management trinkles all the way down throughout the company.
- user3939382 4y agoThere’s a really good This American Life episode about people like this called Petty Tyrant https://www.thisamericanlife.org/419/petty-tyrant https://www.thisamericanlife.org/419/petty-tyrant This guy is a school maintenance manager that psychologically tortures all his employees and puts explosives on their cars.
- unityByFreedom 4y agoeBay exec seems like another level. Does the episode have examples of people throwing away their c-suite jobs?
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoNo, just bombs!
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoExecutive worship, here..?
- hivemindrot 4y ago[dead]
- _fat_santa 4y agoIts baffling to me how petty these executives got. You're an executive of a publicly traded company and your biggest concern is a couple running a blog? They could have easily ignored them and no one would have noticed. Crazy.
- bell-cot 4y agoPsychologically, a big part of how they became a successful executive might be an obsession with controlling...
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoI think it calls into the question what the definition of success is, as an executive. Plenty of these people are stumbling through their day with no meaningful contributions, and if the larger organization does okay, everyone assumes they're performing. Are they?
- throwaway0a5e 4y agoPlenty of managers and executives go off on some stupid tangent and actively harm the organizations they mange. Being a harmless kind of incompetent is worth something. Maybe not what these kinds of guys get paid, but still something. You see this a lot in very rigid bureaucratic organizations where you "need" to have a body in the org chart because of the rules. The people who just bumble about harmlessly wind up managing things that don't need management, the box gets checked and everyone goes home happy.
- Veen 4y agoYour comment reminds me of this quote: > I divide my officers into four classes as follows: the clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possesses two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use can under certain circumstances be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00012327 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/978019182...
- kibwen 4y ago> Harville flew to Boston from California and bought tools with a plan to break into the couple’s garage and install a GPS tracker on their car, prosecutors say. This is batshit insanity.
- dekhn 4y agosounds like garden-variety sociopathy or psychopathy.
- wyldfire 4y ago> orchestrated by members of eBay’s executive leadership team after the newsletter published an article about a lawsuit filed by eBay accusing Amazon of poaching its sellers, authorities said. Is this kinda thing covered in the meeting minutes? "I move that we send death threats to the couple." "Seconded!" "ok, all in favor?" "Aye!" "motion approved. ok, now on to 'new business'..."
- bowsamic 4y agoIt sounds like it was highly organised to me
- swarnie 4y agoThis does make me wonder if this is completely isolated and just a few bad apples or something more widespread. I know of a few other complaints of harassment from security at big tech companies which i initially dismissed because they come across as almost fantasy. Considering the complete psychos we're dealing with here its lucky Devin Wenig's message of “Take her down,” wasn't interpreted differently.
- photochemsyn 4y agoCreepy ol Pierre Omidyar outfit ebay at it again... > "James Baugh, of San Jose, California, who was eBay’s senior director of safety & security, and David Harville, of New York City, was eBay’s director of global resiliency, are charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. The other former eBay employees charged are Stephanie Popp, former senior manager of global intelligence; Brian Gilbert, former senior manager of special operations for eBay’s Global Security Team; Stephanie Stockwell, former manager of eBay’s Global Intelligence Center; and Veronica Zea, a former eBay contractor who worked as an intelligence analyst in the Global Intelligence Center." EBay, your go-to site for fencing stolen goods online, known for running massive tax avoidance schemes as well, had some internal cinematic goon squad operation. Basically the Streisand Effect. The fish rots from the head down, of course. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2021/12/02/ebay-ecommercebytes-stalking/ https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2021/12/02/ebay-ecommerc...
- throwaway0a5e 4y ago>EBay, your go-to site for fencing stolen goods online, known for running massive tax avoidance schemes as well, Lolwut? A giant eCommerce platform that keeps records of listings and transactions going back god knows how long is the last place anyone with a brain is trying to fence stolen goods or dodge taxes. eBay has plenty of problems but stolen goods and taxes aren't one of them.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- photochemsyn 4y agoWell, here's how at least one tax avoidance scheme works. eBay and Amazon deny wrongdoing, though: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/amazon-ebay-face-scrutiny-over-vat-avoidance-by-overseas-sellers-1534604 https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/amazon-ebay-face-scrutiny-over-vat... Here's another nice example: a 19-yr career of selling stolen shoplifted items on eBay that netted $3.8 million. Looks like eBay and PayPal got their cut? https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/us/kim-richardson-ebay-federal-prison-trnd/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/us/kim-richardson-ebay-federa... These are not easily trackable items - look on eBay for things like electric toothbrushes and baby formula. Where do you think the sellers got that stuff from? The shoplifting rings that run amok in major US cities are not selling that stuff on the streetcorner, after all. Most are not getting caught.
- VyseofArcadia 4y ago> Wenig was not criminally charged, has denied any knowledge of the harassment campaign, and his lawyers have asked that the Steiners’ claims against him be dismissed. Call me crazy, but I feel like the guy who started the whole thing ("take her down") should face some punishment. > charged for harassing the Boston duo This is a nitpick, but they live(d?) in Natick. I live in a suburb of Boston and Natick is way farther out than where I sit typing this. Then again I swear I've seen places in Maine calling themselves the Boston whatever company, so what do I know.
- graton 4y agoNatick appears to be part of the Greater Boston area: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Boston https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Boston
- throwaway0a5e 4y ago>I live in a suburb of Boston and Natick is way farther out than where I sit typing this. Natick is pretty undeniably a suburb of Boston unless you want to engage in "anything outside I95 is irreverent boondocks" type snobbery which people of the immediate "Boston, the adjacent cities and their wealthiest suburbs" are somewhat known for. >Then again I swear I've seen places in Maine calling themselves the Boston whatever company, so what do I know. Calling Portland, Nashua, Kittery or whatever "a Boston suburb" is a statement about people, not geography.
- VyseofArcadia 4y ago> Natick is pretty undeniably a suburb of Boston That's my point. It's a suburb of Boston. It's not Boston. Call them a Natick duo. Credit where credit it due. > unless you want to engage in "anything outside I95 is irreverent boondocks" type snobbery Just the opposite. I don't like how all the towns outside the city get lumped in with the city. Non-local news makes it sound like the entire eastern half of the state is Boston, but there's more to it than that.
- technothrasher 4y ago> "anything outside I95 is irreverent boondocks" type snobbery Don't worry, those folks just pass the snobbery down towards those of us who live outside I495.
- wgerard 4y agoThis whole story is wild to me, having worked previously at a different company which was also a frequent target of criticism on the blog run by the victims. Sure, we definitely used to eye-roll at some articles. But my ass would've been fired in 5 seconds for even sending them an email, let alone anything beyond that.
- sidewndr46 4y agoThe real travesty here is that every single eBay executive above the one who gave the order to "take her down" hasn't been indicted on criminal charges. They will never face justice for the criminal organization they created.
- aeturnum 4y agoI genuinely do not understand these kinds of situations. Like, I've been at companies where we have well know critics and like...we know what they say and if they suffer a misfortune people might think that's funny - but we're working on the thing we are working on! I just can't imagine my boss coming to me and telling me to setup an "op" on one of our well-known-angry-in-public-customers. I say "these kinds of situations" because, ofc, this thing seems to come up regularly? I remember the Uber exec who stalked a woman who was assaulted (raped?) by a driver. People in the tech industry seem weirdly enabling of petty hateful stalker behavior.
- bluefirebrand 4y ago> People in the tech industry seem weirdly enabling of petty hateful stalker behavior I wonder if it's because it's become so normalized to collect so much personal data all the time. Arguably a lot of us are enabling our companies to spy on people constantly, so it's not a stretch to imagine people are ok with weird stalker behavior.
- password4321 4y agoPrevious discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31162492 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31162492 20220424: 11 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31087766 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31087766 20220419: 2 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30712531 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30712531 20220317: 7 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29448672 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29448672 20211205: 25 comments > It's basically "Big Corporate Giant Hires Paramilitary Firm to Terrorize Private Citizens".
- nonrandomstring 4y agoHeadline is literally wrong. I notice that every media outlet has gone to great pains to label the perpetrators as ex-eBay executive. This seems to dodge the fact they committed their crimes while in the employ of eBay.