I was asking questions because I am not well informed on the history of this sort of thing, and considering this is a forum of people who work at tech companies, I felt that some may be able to lend some insight.

I personally have worked at one hardware company that was extremely ethical, and none of this would fly at any point. Now I work in a very regulated business making medical devices. I'm just trying to expand my perspective past where it is.

That said, this all seems very bad to me and reflects poorly on a company that has grown by consistently breaking rules.