Ask HN Google and MS employees: Have any of you resigned on principle? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN Google and MS employees: Have any of you resigned on principle?

8 pointsgnosis4 comments

Given the deeply troubling revelations that have been in the news recently, it's become all but undeniable that Google and Microsoft are spying on their users.

So, I'm curious to know whether any Google or Microsoft employees have resigned on principle?

There are lots of Google and MS employees on HN, so it would be interesting to know if there are any among you who consider what your companies (and perhaps you directly) are doing to be objectionable enough to resign.

If you stay, is it because you see nothing wrong with what what your company does? Do you consider spying on your users to be ok? Or do you think it wrong but consider your paycheck or the technical challenges, toys, perks, and prestige that these companies to be more important than your ethics?

Or maybe you think it has nothing to do with you? Or that you have no choice and you're just following orders?

Such an attitude would be curious, because it's not like there's any shortage of demand for people who've worked for companies as prestigious as Google or MS. You could probably have virtually any job at any company you like. Yet some (many? most? all?) of you choose to stay employed with these spy firms. Why?

Do you know of a single person who's resigned from Google or MS (or any other company involved in spying on its users) who's resigned on principle?

What makes you think other, smaller companies aren't also subject to the laws of the US? If they aren't cooperating, then their hosting companies or datacenters or upstream bandwidth providers are.

Google and Microsoft are following laws that were created by Congress with the support of the American people. Our anger is not appropriately directed at PRISM or any of its participants, but at Congress and the American people's apathy.

Exactly this. If the companies gets a court order to turn over data, they don't have much choice. And smaller companies probably have even less choice as they cannot afford expensive lawyers to appeal.

That said, the companies maybe doesn't do enough to resist but they surely do more than most smaller companies could. The laws needs to be changed to stop this. As a side note, I am not an American so I expect NSA to grab at my data, it is their job after all - to gather foreign intelligence.

I use several American services (Gmail, dropbox, facebook, etc.) but doing that is a calculated risk. Entrusting your data to a third party is always a calculated risk and I chose to take that risk. PRISM revelations has not especially surprised me as I already assumed that the US would/could spy on me since I am a foreigner.

Sure, but it would be nice if those companies (especially the ones who play off morality as their tagline) did everything just under what's illegal to inform the public of what's happening.

I think almost every company making money spies on their users or sells their information. It's getting harder to avoid this reality while continuing to have a well-paying brand name job.

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