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AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Unfortunately there are no solutions. The consulting firm is too firmly entrenched within the bank and the bank cannot make any decision without harming themselves. I have resigned and I will post an update on HN soon.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

No progress at all. I am about to give up and start looking for new contract.

Consulting company: Does NOT want to talk about it at all.

Bank: They were shocked by the news but since I am not their employee they can't reveal their decisions to me. I think they don't want to rock their boat and the consulting firm is major part of their IT division.

Ombudsman: I am technically not an employee. They want to help me but consulting firm refuses to communicate

Lawyers: Understable that they don't want to get involved unless I pay fees (It's like asking me to take a look at perl code for free). Too expensive and risk that I could be counter-sued. Plus it could potentially be criminal liability (With bank code and even customer data used for UAT on the internet).

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Thank you for being helpful. I really appreciate it. I did checkout /r/auslaw and noticed that do not provide any legal advice under any circumstances.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Thank you for the polite response. I did speak to the consulting company HR and their response was extremely rude with them going as far as saying they will make sure I never get a contract with anyone else in "(this city)"

The federal ombudsman offered to mediate the issue but they flat out refused to talk to either the ombudsman or me and the ombudsman has no power to force them (as they are technically not my "employer")

I am sending you an email

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

>It sounds like you're a good guy who want to do the right thing

As much as I sound like I am trying to do the right thing all I am doing is avoid going to jail by doing illegal things and earning to feed my family

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

>consulting company's open door policy

Just a heads up (regardless of my case):

Company open door policy exists to protect the company. Even the HR is there to protect the company. Even in US, whistle-blowing or rocking the boat will result you in being fired faster than you can say Oklahoma backwards.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Just a clarification that I posted here:

By "public github" I meant code on the internet (from the bank intranet) and accessible to anyone in the consulting company (public as in public network). There are multiple modules and they are moved to github,bitbucket and stash. This also means people without background checks or ANYONE in the organization has access to ALL the code of the bank. In the bank ONLY people in specific departments have access to specific code (As is customary for all IT industry) This in turn means all contractors that git sync have all code on their machines regardless of their access.

The consulting company is not breaking rules just for the sake of it but to speed up development although what they doing is illegal.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

> I understand that the code is being moved out of the local intranet onto a non-corporate-managed Web service

Spot on and this is what I meant. By "public github" I meant code on the internet but accessible to anyone in the consulting company. There are multiple modules and they are moved to github,bitbucket and stash.

This also means people without background checks or ANYONE in the organization has access to ALL the code of the bank. In the bank ONLY people in specific departments have access to specific code (As is customary for all IT industry)

I am not trying to be a whistle-blower and mr goody two shoes. I am very angry that my refusal to upload code to the internet is resulting in non-payment of fees and threats that I will never get a contract in this city. And as an independent contractor I am truly terrified of uploading bank code to the internet; I don't want to end up in jail for stupid reasons.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Off topic: It would be good to have C-Corp and be taxable at both corporate and individual levels because companies pay a flat tax while individuals are tiered. This way we can choose our salary and leave the rest in company.

This however severely complicates cases like mine which has three pass-thru contracts

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

1. Theoretically I am the asshole. I refused to push the code to github and the company refused to pay me.

2. Yes, I refused to do it until proper channels were established but I ended up looking like a sore thumb when other employees didn't mind pushing/pulling from github.com via wifi hotspots.

I can talk to the bank, I can quit the job but the bottom line is that I will be without any cash inflow. My lawyer said that the consulting company is one of the biggest one and they will make sure that I don't have another job (Which is kind of true because of reference checks)

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

>OP's employer did set up a private github repo where contractors collaborate on bank's code.

This is correct. They are not doing anything criminal. They just want to make sure all employees start working from Day 0. However this is illegal and I refused to push my code out of the intranet

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean *.github.com and NOT an enterprise level private repository.

If you go to the company's public github & bitbucket profile you cannot see the project but you can see all the devs and all these devs have access to the code.

The logic is: All the employees are able to work with minimal delay (caused by background checks)

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

Yes, what you are saying is true and that is indeed how I have worked in financial industries. I have my own ACN (C-Corp) consulting company with Indemnity/Liability insurance through which I work.

However this muddies up as I consult to a consulting company which in turn consults to the bank. I was informed by the Ombudsman that this was a common way to work in Silicon Valley and US has laws that clarifies it however Australia has not updated the laws regarding this "double employment"

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

I will neither confirm nor deny this.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

You can see the company's github profile but you cannot see the project. It's only for the consulting company employees. The commenter below explains it right.

It's moved out of intranet into the internet without consent to avoid delaying work for employees who failed/in process of background check

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

This is correct. It's a "public github" as in it's on *.github.com with access to all employees of the consulting company regardless of the background check (That's the whole idea of them moving to their github repo)

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

The consultant is running wireless hotspots to copy the software. All I want is the contract money they agreed to pay me for this project. They froze the payment because I complained about this, at best unethical, behaviour.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

I have worked in Financial sector for a long time and know that copying bank software illegally is criminal in US and probably civil in Australia.

I program for the bank via the consulting company and my code is on the internet. Plus my contract is frozen with fees until I withdraw my complaint to IT of my consulting company.

Not sure who to talk to in the bank. HR said I have to resolve with my consulting company but I am pretty sure the HR doesn't understand the implication of copying software

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

100% public github because they want to give access to new employees who do not have access to enterprise system.

AussieOdysseyon Ask HN: I work for consulting firm that's illegally moving bank code to GitHub

There are strict security in place to prevent any "leaks" of software which means all USB ports are disabled in company devices, the company network has disable git/github/bitbucket and our security manual explicitly states that the code cannot leave the intranet.

The consultant bypasses this by running wireless hotspots