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Comment by rorrr | Hacker News Reader

Visa + Mastercard is a duopoly. They have been abusing their domination for years. I don't feel sorry for MC.

You do realize that there are actual human beings working for Mastercard who are just like you and I who are getting hurt by this, right? There are real people behind these websites.

Following orders is not a valid defense for wrongdoing. If you work for a company, you're complicit in their wrongdoings.

That's not true at all. A secretary filling documents should not be held responsible for the way the corporation is run. That's just plain idiocy to claim that employees of a company are to be held responsible for corporate policy. Now if they did something illegal while working, that' another story but I don't think that's what you meant here.

Nope, that's exactly what I mean here. Now, we're talking about my own personal set of ethics here, but it's pretty straightforward:

* Your role is an employee is to help accomplish a corporation's objectives.

* (In this case) the corporation's objectives are unethical.

* You're contributing to something unethical.

That being said, nobody is perfectly ethical. But if I worked for Amazon or PayPal, I'd have quit by now, and I'd never have taken a job with MasterCard in the first place.

I also don't mean "held responsible" in a legal sense, either. They've done nothing wrong legally. Legality != morality, though.

While I understand your premises, I question the idea that an employee is ethically responsible for all of the actions/objectives of there employer.

All of them? Of course not.

But they are responsible for those they know about.

"responsible" is a bit strong, but that doesn't mean contribution on some level hasn't occurred.

On what grounds?

my guess is that you a) don't have a mortgage b) are exceptionally skilled that finding another job is not difficult for you

Most people don't have the option of just up and quitting their jobs.

I don't have a mortgage, but I also never will.

Even if finding a new job is easy, it's still difficult. I just went through this process, it's still rough...

As I said, everyone makes choices. Everyone commits minor works of evil. If doing wrong is worth your mortgage... it's your life.

Just because other people don't "have the choice" doesn't mean that those of us who do shouldn't take the opportunity to do what's right.

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