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> shout in the ether that this engineer will have a job at your organization. This. Or crowdfund a mega million dollar bounty for evidence of certain types of

> shout in the ether that this engineer will have a job at your organization. This. Or crowdfund a mega million dollar bounty for evidence of certain types of malfeasance. The market seems to generally punish whistleblowers, and understandably so. I have never worked for a company that wasn't violating some contract, regulation, or law. In my first job we were forging stuff for PCI compliance. The next job stored medical records in a Git repo. So most people have something to lose if there is a whistleblower personality around, as much as we might admire them when they reveal the secrets of others. I wouldn't want to work with one. I am not a manager and even as a low level individual contributor I cut regulatory and security corners to keep bosses happy. You would get far more whistleblowers if it didn't essentially mean wrecking your livelihood, even if you are willing to sacrifice your career.

specialist 3y ago
> crowdfund a mega million dollar bounty for evidence of certain types of malfeasance Yes and: Make whistleblowing-for-hire official. IIRC, there's a law practice whose sole activity is suing prescription management practices. Basically forensic accounting meets administrative law. I want more of that. Further: Winner-takes-all seems to be some kind of natural law. And by extension, regulatory capture. Civil society needs countervailing mechanisms that exist outside or separated somehow. I most like ensuring pro-competition and anti-monopoly policies. But monopolies will always exist, eg natural monopolies like utility districts and police, so we also need transparency and accountability hacks like you're suggesting.
- sparrowInHand 3y ago
  How about, if you can proof your company engages in monopoly practices, you get as a reward, parts of the company to start your own?
bertil 3y ago
Far for me to challenge the idea of a fund and bounties. But that’s a lot of money—more than I can personally fork and more than I’d be comfortable advocating to collect. Again, no criticism of your ambition; I’m just a regular guy trying to do his thing. I do believe that good engineers like their work and drive a lot of self-esteem from it being valued—more than living off a stipend because they shot their career in the foot. It’s well-paid enough they rarely think they need to rely on the generosity of strangers, and that’s not a bad mindset to keep. In circumstances like these, people talk about loyalty, notably to their employer; I don’t think loyalty is a bad value, but in that case, you want to advocate for loyalty to the craft and the corps, not the organization profiting from putting people in danger. Engineering values, like the brass ring some get in Canada, are things that you want to support not by saying “we’ll support you if that blows in your face” but “We want people like you to speak up during our meetings.” Giving engineers a guarantee that their craft, their talent and their willingness to ask tough questions is what you value, as a team lead, is something I occasionally can do (not now, though: changing team) and something I’m happy to compensate at fair market value, because it’s objectively a good thing for me too — not because that would put me at odds with my organization, but I’m willing to sacrifice that for some ideal misaligned with profit. We need to work on getting eggheads at Boeing understand that their cost-cutting was a bad idea (SkyScanner letting you filter-out plane time is beautifully aggressive that way), but in the meantime, we need to tell people facing tough decisions that engineering is full of hard trade-offs but that security is not one of them, and not one that should need charity.
Cheer2171 3y ago
Or require the government to give a proportion of the fine to the whistleblower, like the SEC has. We find out about a lot of shady finance through that program.

specialist 3y ago

> crowdfund a mega million dollar bounty for evidence of certain types of malfeasance Yes and: Make whistleblowing-for-hire official. IIRC, there's a law practice whose sole activity is suing prescription management practices. Basically forensic accounting meets administrative law. I want more of that. Further: Winner-takes-all seems to be some kind of natural law. And by extension, regulatory capture. Civil society needs countervailing mechanisms that exist outside or separated somehow. I most like ensuring pro-competition and anti-monopoly policies. But monopolies will always exist, eg natural monopolies like utility districts and police, so we also need transparency and accountability hacks like you're suggesting.

sparrowInHand 3y ago
How about, if you can proof your company engages in monopoly practices, you get as a reward, parts of the company to start your own?

bertil 3y ago

Far for me to challenge the idea of a fund and bounties. But that’s a lot of money—more than I can personally fork and more than I’d be comfortable advocating to collect. Again, no criticism of your ambition; I’m just a regular guy trying to do his thing. I do believe that good engineers like their work and drive a lot of self-esteem from it being valued—more than living off a stipend because they shot their career in the foot. It’s well-paid enough they rarely think they need to rely on the generosity of strangers, and that’s not a bad mindset to keep. In circumstances like these, people talk about loyalty, notably to their employer; I don’t think loyalty is a bad value, but in that case, you want to advocate for loyalty to the craft and the corps, not the organization profiting from putting people in danger. Engineering values, like the brass ring some get in Canada, are things that you want to support not by saying “we’ll support you if that blows in your face” but “We want people like you to speak up during our meetings.” Giving engineers a guarantee that their craft, their talent and their willingness to ask tough questions is what you value, as a team lead, is something I occasionally can do (not now, though: changing team) and something I’m happy to compensate at fair market value, because it’s objectively a good thing for me too — not because that would put me at odds with my organization, but I’m willing to sacrifice that for some ideal misaligned with profit. We need to work on getting eggheads at Boeing understand that their cost-cutting was a bad idea (SkyScanner letting you filter-out plane time is beautifully aggressive that way), but in the meantime, we need to tell people facing tough decisions that engineering is full of hard trade-offs but that security is not one of them, and not one that should need charity.

Cheer2171 3y ago

Or require the government to give a proportion of the fine to the whistleblower, like the SEC has. We find out about a lot of shady finance through that program.