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When Rules Don't Apply is a 28 minute documentary that explores "no-poach" agreements and how they violate antitrust law. Watch the full film on vimeo for free here. For years, Apple’s Steve Jobs, Google’s Eric Schmidt and other hi-tech CEOs engaged in a conspiracy against their own employees, agreeing not to hire each other’s workers. The secret deal denied career advancement and better pay to the very people who made their companies successful.
Did any Soylentils experience this first-hand? How did things work out for you? How accurate/informative a depiction did you find this documentary?
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New Documentary Explores Wage Suppression Lawsuit in Silicon Valley
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(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 25 2019, @10:46PM (10 children)
I've been to Silicon Valley, all those people are rich as hell based on spying on the rest of the world.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bobthecimmerian on Tuesday June 25 2019, @10:57PM (9 children)
Fair point. Maybe the correct perspective is, "You worked for the surveillance and advertising machine, fuck off."
On the other hand, I consider rank and file employees of Google, Apple, Intel, etc... less evil than executives and shareholders. So if this just takes back some of the money the execs and shareholders have for the rank and file employees, it's still nice.
It's going to take a while to garner public support for prison for the execs.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 25 2019, @11:46PM (8 children)
No it isn't ok to "just follow orders".
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday June 26 2019, @12:16AM (6 children)
How far do we take that sentiment I wonder? Since you've already godwinned this thread, I might as well ask -- what of those who were interred in Hitler's concentration camps who were forced to work as slave labor making ammo, rockets, digging coal, or whatever? Surely they were following orders -- they were slaves after all. I don't fault them -- when it is a work or die proposition, most people will work, begrudgingly and sabotagingly if possible, but work nonetheless.
How about a receptionist at Apple who follows orders by routing calls and handing out faxes or whatever their receptionists do? It isn't life or death, and that person certainly follows orders, but what Apple does is certainly less black/white good/evil than the NAZI machine. Besides, all those low level employees are mostly a paycheck away from being homeless which isn't really good for one's longevity. I don't blame them either.
How about the engineers -- certainly they know what is happening with their work to deeper degree than most people. The question is, where on the good v. evil continuum is this type of work? I think its a pretty hard sell when our entire economy has been immersed in advertising since before radio, let alone TV and internet. I do try my best to avoid the whole marketing thing -- cut my cable in 1992 -- but is it actually "evil" or just merely objectionable? I tend to think it is mostly the latter aside from special cases which basically amount to fraud or a violation of Constitutional principles (if you reject the bullshit 3d party doctrine).
Anyway, for people at the top who wield substantial power, "just following orders" is a cop-out (they in fact either make or influence those orders). As we go farther down the chain though, the evil should become progressively more obvious to tar the peons with that brush, and at some point (i.e., slavery), perhaps that brush isn't ever really valid because everything a slave does is basically self-defense/self-preservation.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 26 2019, @12:37AM (1 child)
I worked as a grad student getting paid less than minimum wage stipend torturing rats to generate BS results so people could get scammed into taking drugs that probably cause net harm. When I figured out what was going on I started over a new career at $8/ hr. I expect others to act the same.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday June 26 2019, @07:44PM
rats / probably -- these turn the situation gray enough that I don't think it fits in the definitively positively universally accepted black/white good/evil category.
(Score: 2) by gtomorrow on Wednesday June 26 2019, @08:50AM (3 children)
OH, C'MON!
How you even can try to make an intelligent comparison with literal slave labor (the jews and all Nazi POWs in concentration camps) vs some "wage slave" who chooses to work for Company X? The first set, allow me to remind you, had no choice in the matter whatsoever.
Please.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday June 26 2019, @04:59PM (1 child)
I think that is GP's point.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Wednesday June 26 2019, @08:22PM
Perhaps one meaningful difference is the amount of paperwork required before non-compliance earns a bullet to the head.
Literal slaves, minimal paperwork. Low-ranking, non-party members, somewhat more paperwork. And so on...
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday June 26 2019, @07:42PM
Technically there is a choice -- one can choose to die rather than perform slave labor. It isn't much of a choice and I cannot fault anyone who does not make that choice as survival is a core instinct.
(Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Wednesday June 26 2019, @11:50AM
Agreed. But the people giving the orders are still far worse.