3 ms·

It was an internal tool and the VP was the head of IT. Everything still worked, it was just painful to use. He could have pulled the plug on it at any time.

epolanski 3y ago
I don't think any of those details matter, that's still illegal and you could've gotten in trouble legally.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  I'm curious; what law was being broken, exactly?
  - epolanski 3y ago
    Breaking fiduciary duty would be the first that comes to my mind. Previous user took a very huge risk. I've seen similar stuff happen, you can get sued (along whoever told you, but you need proof) just for the sake of making an example in front of the rest of the company.
    - systemvoltage 3y ago
      CEO can say it is his fiduciary duty to phase out old software and put a brand spanking new modern enterprise grade system. Also, still it is not illegal. Just that the shareholders need to sue him to matter at all.
    - ikiris 3y ago
      Where do you think fiduciary duty exists as a random software dev?
    - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
      Fiduciary duty is a particular legal concept about the responsibility one party has to another, and only applies in specific, defined circumstances. A random developer doesn't have a fiduciary duty to anyone, and he wasn't taking any risk.
    - sgentle 3y ago
      Sibling commenters: for what it's worth, the notion of an employee having a fiduciary duty to their employer isn't as crazy as it sounds. eg, see here: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=724a91e1-94f1-4514-9e30-3749303c7c26 https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=724a91e1-94f1... That said, I think it'd be a pretty tough argument to make that an employee following the instructions of their superior was breaching fiduciary duty. If they weren't acting to their employer's benefit, then whose? Employee fiduciary duty cases tend to be more about things like embezzling or competing with your own company while you're still working there. An example of Fox getting shut down for trying to claim that sexual harassment was a breach of fiduciary duty: https://www.barnespc.com/news-articles/limitations-on-the-scope-of-an-employees-fiduciary-duty/ https://www.barnespc.com/news-articles/limitations-on-the-sc...
      - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
        Thanks for the correction, TIL.
      - epolanski 3y ago
        > That said, I think it'd be a pretty tough argument to make that an employee following the instructions of their superior was breaching fiduciary duty. There has to be proof about that. If everything was verbal how do you prove it? There's no way around the fact that sabotaging your company is illegal and a breach of contract.
        ikiris 3y ago
        The leap you took from following your director's expectations to sunset a product to sabotaging your company is pretty epic.
- hamandcheese 3y ago
  What law was broken?
- throwaway5959 3y ago
  I don’t see how it’s any different than Windows ME.

epolanski 3y ago

I don't think any of those details matter, that's still illegal and you could've gotten in trouble legally.

CamperBob2 3y ago
I'm curious; what law was being broken, exactly?
- epolanski 3y ago
  Breaking fiduciary duty would be the first that comes to my mind. Previous user took a very huge risk. I've seen similar stuff happen, you can get sued (along whoever told you, but you need proof) just for the sake of making an example in front of the rest of the company.
  - systemvoltage 3y ago
    CEO can say it is his fiduciary duty to phase out old software and put a brand spanking new modern enterprise grade system. Also, still it is not illegal. Just that the shareholders need to sue him to matter at all.
  - ikiris 3y ago
    Where do you think fiduciary duty exists as a random software dev?
  - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
    Fiduciary duty is a particular legal concept about the responsibility one party has to another, and only applies in specific, defined circumstances. A random developer doesn't have a fiduciary duty to anyone, and he wasn't taking any risk.
  - sgentle 3y ago
    Sibling commenters: for what it's worth, the notion of an employee having a fiduciary duty to their employer isn't as crazy as it sounds. eg, see here: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=724a91e1-94f1-4514-9e30-3749303c7c26 https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=724a91e1-94f1... That said, I think it'd be a pretty tough argument to make that an employee following the instructions of their superior was breaching fiduciary duty. If they weren't acting to their employer's benefit, then whose? Employee fiduciary duty cases tend to be more about things like embezzling or competing with your own company while you're still working there. An example of Fox getting shut down for trying to claim that sexual harassment was a breach of fiduciary duty: https://www.barnespc.com/news-articles/limitations-on-the-scope-of-an-employees-fiduciary-duty/ https://www.barnespc.com/news-articles/limitations-on-the-sc...
    - hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
      Thanks for the correction, TIL.
    - epolanski 3y ago
      > That said, I think it'd be a pretty tough argument to make that an employee following the instructions of their superior was breaching fiduciary duty. There has to be proof about that. If everything was verbal how do you prove it? There's no way around the fact that sabotaging your company is illegal and a breach of contract.
      - ikiris 3y ago
        The leap you took from following your director's expectations to sunset a product to sabotaging your company is pretty epic.
hamandcheese 3y ago
What law was broken?
throwaway5959 3y ago
I don’t see how it’s any different than Windows ME.