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Comment by hkmurakami | Hacker News Reader

I’m sad at myself for feeling “well yeah not unexpected” after having worked at DENSO HQ (Toyota group supplier) where a Chinese natiuonal engineer stole 30,000 design documents in the early 2000s (it made national headlines when it happened). Because it’s only 1/1000000 people that do this that will cause prejudice and disdain for all the good actors.

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> I’m sad at myself for feeling “well yeah not unexpected” > Because it’s only 1/1000000 people that do this that will cause prejudice and disdain for all the good actors.

Damn I came in here to say the same thing and feel sad at myself now too.

So not to be racial but from an American standpoint I liken it to hiring an American who happens to be Chinese versus an engineer from China.

For the first, they are American, their family is here, their life is here - where would they flee to?

For the latter, they're here temporarily most likely. So why not take the risk and get a big reward?

>So not to be racial but from an American standpoint I liken it to hiring an American who happens to be Chinese versus an engineer from China.

Well the issue is because of this stereotype, companies may not differentiate between the two, or may even pass up an amazing engineer from China because of their racial (well nationality) bias.

I remember reading about a couple incidences of American engineers(?) being falsely accused of stealing secrets which led to them being fired and shamed.

That's true for any nationality though. And Snowden was American and technically fled to Russia ?

That's quite a stretch in your comparison there, I don't think that stealing industrial trade secrets for profit is the same thing as whistle-blowing the fact that tinfoil hat sci-fi conspiracy theories were actually being carried out by the US government.

Respectfully I submit that this reveals a racial bias that you should reflect upon. Why did your mind go to this case from 15 years ago and not Anthony Levandowski? He's an engineer that stole thousands of design documents just last year. From an autonomous vehicle startup in Silicon Valley. Yet his case apparently did not "cause prejudice and disdain" for all the good-acting white American engineers.

>good actors >People doing their job and not committing international espionage

Those are just people, let's not lower our standards

"Good actors" isn't some term of high praise, it just means those who aren't "bad actors" (who do harmful things).

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