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Comment by snarf21 | Hacker News Reader

That won't work because the incentives are misaligned. What we need is much better whistleblower programs. Programs where people are paid out $MM and witness protection if there are lose level of risks. These programs can easily pay for themselves by pulling back ill gotten gains to pay for awards and program costs. It should go without saying that it also needs to be a major crime to stop people from filing frivolously. But as Upton Sinclair has said, it is hard for a person to do what is right when their family's livelihood is at stake. People knew about Enron, Theranons, Volkswagon, etc. This sounds even more pertinent with the stuff going on right now around Boeing. I haven't researched that enough to know what is fact and what is conspiracy but it is hard to know what lengths people will go to when the stakes are high enough.

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> What we need is much better whistleblower programs.

Unfortunately, not many organizations will have the aligned incentives. If businesses that conduct potentially dangerous operations, were required to get an insurance, then insurance companies would have incentive to pay money to the whistleblower vs paying out a much larger claim down the line.

So how do you convince companies that they should be responsible to their communities and the world at large instead of focusing on shareholder profits?

Corporations are created by and controlled by governments. Maybe stricter laws and heightened enforcement?

> what is fact and what is conspiracy

Conspiracy is criminal collaboration. It is not "falsehood."

> What we need is much better whistleblower programs. Programs where people are paid out $MM and witness protection if there are lose level of risks.

If you need this, your culture is beyond lost and your management team will sabotage it to ensure they maintain autocratic control.

> Enron, Theranons, Volkswagon... Boeing

Every one of these companies either was or had become quite autocratic and bureaucratic.

> hard to know what lengths people will go to when the stakes are high enough.

It's pretty easy to see it in action, and all it takes to beat it is a call from the CEO or someone above the manager of an employee that seems to be holding back in a meeting or in a email. "Fran, you seemed to be holding back. You are the kind of person that I count on to let me know what is really happening. Why were you holding back?" usually results in "My boss will fire me if I tell anyone"... And what comes after this is exactly what the CEO needs to know.

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