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Comment by granshaw | Hacker News Reader

> Why does he feel the need to be 'productive' for 16 hours a day?

Yeah after reading the post I’m like this guy must be a founder to value productivity so highly… NOPE, just works at Meta!

EDIT: Oh wait, he DID also start a company, during the experiment in fact, but of course it’s in stealth mode!

Can’t make this stuff up…

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Wouldn't hiring people to sit behind you and watch you work be a breach of contract?

I have a feeling this guy doesn’t really care…

I would think so.

Also doesn’t Meta own everything you create when you work there? I know other companies of that size do. And if so, then creating a company is breach and technically the IP of that company now belongs to Meta too.

>Also doesn’t Meta own everything you create when you work there?

I've heard stories like this but I can't imagine this would be enforceable unless the "IP" was very obviously related to his work at Meta. What other companies are you thinking of, and do you have any stories of this happening to someone?

they don't, because stuff like this does not exist. Unless you are outright stealing like that convicted uber/google guy, or building a direct competitor, nobody cares what you do, at least in the location of the TFA.

They do exist, as I said above, I’ve signed one. Derp.

I’ve heard examples of it happening, but can not point to any. I know my cousin was sued for changing employers, they tried to block her taking a job at a competitor(broad use of the term, but I guess fang’s think everyone is a competitor), but lost in Delaware court. So I do know they will attempt to enforce these contracts if they want to.

Many top companies do have these clauses, I’ve signed them and seen others. How enforceable they are, I’m not sure, but billionaires with armies of bored lawyers, don’t make for great opponents in legal battles.

The US federal government is going to ban anti-compete clauses, which is great news: https://www.fullstackeconomics.com/p/banning-noncompete-agre...

I think you mean to say, some parties in government have discussed the idea. It’s not set in stone that it will happen.

A noncompete (itself a dicy legal/moral proposition) is very different than a claim on arbitrary work/invention for the duration of employment.

I did find this thread interesting and informative about the matter, tho it is a little dated.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2208056

Not necessarily. It depends how much your employer cares about confidentiality. If you work at a bank like I do, then 100% yes. But if you work at some social networking site like Facebook, as this guy apparently does... realistically is some rando woman off Craigslist going to try to steal code? No. Not gonna happen.

Facebook will catch wind of this and add him to the next layoffs spreadsheet, for sure.

I am not sure. Zuckerberg might align with his personality and keep him.

The question is, how good is his actual work and would it be bad or good PR for Meta to keep him around.

indeed... Zuckerberg will read this post and order him a Metaverse avatar that watches porn and trash-talks him while he works : )

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