
Ethical lapses at some of the tech industry’s biggest companies - shahryc
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/is-the-silicon-valley-dynasty-coming-to-an-end
======
tptacek
The examples here don't make anything close to sense.

Yes: Uber is a case study for ethical lapses in tech companies. Nobody could
disagree with that.

But holding your developer conference while a killer who used your product is
on the loose isn't an "ethical lapse". Facebook has no culpability whatsoever
in the murder of Robert Godwin. It's actually creepily instrumentalist of
Vanity Fair to exploit that murder to make this point.

And Juicebro is less a story about ethical lapses at tech companies than it is
a story about the lack of judgement in tech _investors_. Juicebro does what it
says it will do. It just happens that the thing it says it will do is also
something you can do with a Capri Sun bag. Whatever it is they themselves did
wrong, it doesn't come close to Uber.

~~~
hn_throwaway_99
Totally agree. These are what I call "pile on" articles: take a real example
of problems at one person or company, and then use very lightly related
examples to indict an entire industry or subpopulation.

”Then there was Facebook, which held its developer conference while the
Facebook Killer was on the loose." That sentence is so dumb it strains belief.

------
ashark
Ah, you mean the entirety of Windows 10, and just... all of Google and
Facebook?

> Uber

Oh.

> Then there was Facebook

Ah, here we go.

> The company doesn’t distort reality—but it often seems to lack the ability
> to recognize it.

Wait, but... they do though. Among many other evils. You're just upset they
said something tone-deaf at a press conference?

> Juicero [...] After Bloomberg News discovered that you didn’t even need the
> $700 $400 juicer to make juice (there are, apparently, these things called
> hands)

Crappy, stupid products and founders who can't turn off Always Be Closing even
when it makes them sound kinda dumb? That's sort-of bad I guess, but who
really cares?

This misses the point. Some specific scandals and dumb, wanky marketing-speak
are the least of tech's problem. Spy-vertising is the heart of most of the big
players, and it's _rotten to the core_.

------
jasode
Nick Bilton doesn't mention it but the one story of Travis Kalanick ethics
that always sticks in my mind was his handling of employee tax withholdings in
Red Swoosh (2001). Excerpt from BI[1]:

 _> Kalanick and Todd had different opinions about how to keep the company
afloat, which blossomed into serious disagreements. They began cutting corners
to get by, in some cases pushing the ethical and legal boundaries.

>For instance, at one point, the company stopped withholding income taxes from
employees’ paychecks — a criminal offense.

>Kalanick insists that Todd made this move without his knowledge, publicly
blaming his co-founder for the infraction. Todd insists the decision was made
jointly.

>As Kalanick has recounted the story: "We owed $110,000 to the IRS in un-
withheld income taxes, which is a white-collar crime that pierces the
corporate shell, and it doesn't matter whether you knew or not. If you're an
officer of the company you're going to jail."

>"Travis is a very smart guy but he and I clearly have different memories on
this 13-year-old detail," Todd says. And an email sent by Kalanick at the time
and obtained by Business Insider appears to demonstrate his participation in
the tax plan._

By my count, Travis didn't just commit one but _two_ sins in ethics. (1) was
not paying the IRS. The (2) was shifting all blame to his business partner and
claiming ignorance.

For some, I suppose that his paying back the IRS resets the sin odometer to
zero and therefore's he's redeemed. However, I personally wouldn't invest in
Uber at all while he is running the company. I believe his earlier behavior is
indicative of an inherent personality trait and I would be afraid of new
"skeletons" from Uber's closet that were of Travis' making.

Maybe Travis is a nice guy to have beers with but I'd be wary of doing
business with him.

[1] [http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-travis-kalanick-
bio-2014...](http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-travis-kalanick-bio-2014-1)

~~~
xyzzy_plugh
Wait, if anything, I wouldn't trust this Todd fellow. It seems like everything
else you mentioned about Kalanick is vilification. There's no proof.

I don't care who we're taking about, but this sort of line of thinking is
dangerous.

If he was guilty of this, wouldn't be have been charged and seen jail time?

~~~
jasode
_> If he was guilty of this, wouldn't be have been charged and seen jail
time?_

I assume paying $110k promptly let him avoid jail.

------
colink
The main point in this article seems to be that Silicon Valley companies like
Uber and Theranos skirt responsibility for their actions when compared to
other non-SV companies who have undergone serious disciplinary action (such as
United, Wells Fargo, Fox, Volkswagon).

But the author is comparing public and private companies and stating that the
main difference between the two is their zip code. This feels like apples to
oranges.

I'd rather see a comparison of how ethical issues are handled between SV and
non-SV privately-held companies.

~~~
pcurve
"I'd rather see a comparison of how ethical issues are handled between SV and
non-SV privately-held companies."

Given complete lack of attention and interest given to the latter, I wouldn't
be surprised if the situation isn't any different, if not worse.

The only thing that led to actions being taken against Uber, UA, VW, Wells, is
public shaming and media coverage.

~~~
walshemj
Adding ethical lapses to media and news paper companies might be a good idea
as well

------
LeeHwang
Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes should be a huge indictment of Tech Journalism
as well. Many critics were right about her, but smeared as misogynists. I know
I bought the hype, and called some friends sexists.

At least the Wall Street Journal is still doing investigative journalism, who
knows what a nightmare situation Theranos would have caused it they didn't get
caught.

I hope someone there is doing some investigation on Uber and Lyft as well.

------
username223
> ... creating more tone deaf people than any other ecosystem in the history
> of the world.

Okay, the Juicero "$400 Capri Sun squeezer" may be funny (and they're even
suing a rival juice packet squeezer for stealing their IP), but SV is hardly
unique. Whenever you give buckets of money to people who provide nothing of
real value in exchange, you create and/or attract entitled and oblivious
leeches like Marie Antoinette, Leona Helmsley, and Larry Page:
[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/googles-ceo-rules-and-taxes-
are-...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/googles-ceo-rules-and-taxes-are-for-the-
little-people/) .

------
losteverything
As a tech observer the bios and company names were worth the read.

------
mcguire
" _(I can’t believe I just wrote the words “mayonnaise-disruption”)._ "

I can't believe it either.

