7 ms·
I’m a little unclear on the usage of the word “fake” here. Going by article, these are real people doing actual real work, they often use stolen identities to
by abtinf 7mo ago
I’m a little unclear on the usage of the word “fake” here.
Going by article, these are real people doing actual real work, they often use stolen identities to conceal information about themselves, and they get help from outside sources to do their jobs better.
Whatever the right word is, it’s not “fake”. Maybe fraudulent? Or ulterior motives? Or deceptive? Or pretext? Or threat actor? Or foreign agents?
- 1970-01-01 7mo agoI don't think we have a word for this. At best, it is disingenuous work.
- systems 7mo agowe have many words for this Con, Fraud, Secret, Poseur, Imposter .. and after googling for more terms "Pseudonymist" seem a better fit
- sam-cop-vimes 7mo agoLabeling the actual worker negatively seems harsh - they are probably being forced into it by the state. You might say they can willingly underperform and not be used this way - but if the alternative is a much harder life, could you blame them for playing along?
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- Bombthecat 7mo agoSpies, at the end of the day they are spies.
- dayofthedaleks 7mo agoAdvanced Persistent Coworker
- floralhangnail 7mo agoAdvanced Persistent Telecommuter
- sam-cop-vimes 7mo agoI agree - this is closer to bonded labor though the paying employer doesn't know it. Instead most of their earnings go to their actual employer (which is the North Korean state). "slave" maybe is more appropriate? "prisoner"?
- calvinmorrison 7mo agomost of my earnings go to my employer too... we bill clients at X and I get a small portion of it
- MrPapz 7mo agoExactly. As slave as them.
- tylerchilds 7mo agoNot an apt metaphor because we can just walk away and never see our employers again if that’s our free will.
- memonkey 7mo agoI know we're getting deep in the meta discussion but the free will that you're describing involves basically starving to death. Sure, you can walk away but unless you're well off, we all basically live in the same society that makes sure you are ALWAYS dependent on some kind of wage. You cannot live off the land, build housing, or eat food without some kind of income in the modern world. And thus the concept of wage slave.
- bit-anarchist 7mo agoBut wage slavery, while bad, isn't slavery still. In slavery proper, the option of walking away straight up doesn't exist. In fact, in extreme cases, even the option of dying might not be available.
- catigula 7mo agoThe implication is that they're pretending to be legitimate employees whereas they are actually exfiltrating IP from a hostile nation state. Seems valid.
- ForHackernews 7mo agoYou mean like the DOGE team?
- dopesoap 7mo agoIt's North Korea though and they're all eViL. Imagine a world where the U.S lifted sanctions on N.K. traded with them and stopped crying about losing a war 70 years ago. Ah well a boy can dream. Edit: Lol saying anything positive about North Korea on hacker news and people instantly freak out. This fucking website man. North Korea isn't what I would call a free society but it's also not the hell on earth that most liberals want you to think it is. So much of the misery that normal North Koreans have to face is because of western imposed sanctions. We've tried punishing them for 30 years now, it hasn't destroyed the regime if anything they double down. I guess it's easy for a bunch of overfed over paid tech workers to not feel any kind of solidarity for a North Korean though and insist on punishing them even more. Hell the North Korean government would even be open for this kind of agreement if we would actually guarantee their sovereignty, sadly trusting the United States of America to hold up any kind of deal you make with them is fucking impossible. Here is a quote I came up with but is attributed to Henry Kissinger Having the United States as your enemy is dangerous, but having them as your friend is fatal. That old bag liked it so much he had no problem taking credit for it.
- 948382828528 7mo ago[dead]
- mikkupikku 7mo agoEven other communist dictatorships are pretty sick of North Korea's shit!
- dopesoap 7mo agoWow so you guys don't have ideological brain worms at all. I can tell you guys have never studied international relations because you refuse to try an take North Koreas concerns seriously. Do I have to remind you that a South Korean attempted a fascist coup recently and that it was left wing organisations and trade unions that mobilised to stop him? Also which "communist dictators" are you talking about, and how do you know this? You do realise that the United States is also a one party state when it comes to foreign policy right? If you love freedom so much shouldn't this be worrying more? https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5340753/trump-democracy-authoritarianism-competive-survey-political-scientist https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5340753/trump-democracy... For any one interested in learning a bit more about North Korea and how it got to be the country it is I'd suggest Noah Kulwins series Blowback.
- saltyoldman 7mo agoI agree that fake is an odd word to describe this. Most likely much of our IT infrastructure is extremely compromised. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the major password/healthcare/etc... leaks in the past 6 years were the result of someone "accidentally" setting a cloud bucket to public. I actually turned down a fly-to-texas for an in person interview about a year back, but I do think in the age of the internet if we don't sacrifice some of the things we have taken for granted in the past, we're going to lose our country. Perhaps there should be a law that requires a picture of any employee standing next to their boss for continued employment - at some point in the future. (this is just an idea, not to start a flamewar, don't attack the specific idea, but attack the idea of some kind of extra checking if you don't agree with it)
- FpUser 7mo agoWho cares what they're called. Main concern in this case is that the result of their work poses danger to the US. Like a spies. They often do legit work and meanwhile some "extra"
- wat10000 7mo ago"Fake" seems fine. If I buy a fake watch, that might mean that it's a real watch that does its job of telling time, but it says "Rolex" on the front and that's a lie.
- hsuduebc2 7mo agoI believe that in this context they are referring to their fake personalities.
- kykat 7mo agoYou said it yourself "they often use stolen identities to conceal information about themselves", fake identity.
- WickyNilliams 7mo agoFraudulent is the right word imo. And I believe it's the term used in the recruiting industry