myrmepropagandist
If you work with a database and are asked to alter the table structure to comply in advance for citizenship or gender categorizations it's really important to NOT do it.
"The governor is concerned about all this stuff they want us to update our record keeping so we store both gender AND biological sex."
"We need fields to store the country of origin of people's parents."
If you don't have the power to rebuff this yourself, ask for help. At minimum ask for help online anonymously.
myrmepropagandist
Depending on your job you probably have in the past made compromises. Maybe to keep your job. Maybe to survive. This is a bright line. If you are asked to be the one to update the table don't let it be your fingers typing those changes.
If you can't just say "No I won't do that." Stall, run away, feign incompetence. Just don't let it happen.
I suspect this might be where the rubber hits the road first for us around here.
Nothing has changed. You do not have to do it. It is not even ordained.
myrmepropagandist
Do not help them to build any more of this machine.
myrmepropagandist
I know someone who rebuffed such a request. Boss was apologetic "it's what the higher ups want, oh *I* think it's a lot of nonsense, but I don't want us to be out of step ... blah blah"
It was proposed to them in sheepish way. They said it would be a lot of work, not add anything of value, and most important they would not do it. It didn't come up again.
Fascism can be the work of zealots, but there are also many sheepish middle management helping hands who "don't even believe in this really"
myrmepropagandist
With the sheepish ones just letting them know you won't do it. That it crosses the bright line can make them back off some of the time.
This can be very scary and if you are thinking "but I could be fired" I understand that. Ask for help. Talk about it outside of work or with people you trust. Don't go looking for an excuse to comply and not feel bad about it. If you do you should feel bad.
Find a way to NOT do it instead.
myrmepropagandist
I'm honestly just psyching myself up for if I need to do this kind of thing again. I might.
It's the whole "we're just doing it to go along with what's happening now" ethos that I think might hold the most little victories for us.
So many terrible things happen because of people just going along with a bunch of little bad things that come together into a much more ugly and unstoppable bad thing.
Rich Felker
@futurebird And if you're worried about being fired, prepare for that not to be a disastrous outcome. Giant mortgage? Use the state of the housing market to downgrade leaving little or no debt left. Etc.
Rachel Rawlings
@futurebird Trump's already threatening to take away my student loan cancellation in addition to my civil rights. I'm not afraid of a mere employer.
(I've also been successful in the past here about refusing things that felt sketchy from an infosec, moral, or "that's where my grandfather died" perspective.)
Paul Cantrell
@futurebird
I would also suggest, if the refusal didn’t work, breaking the code so that wrong / random values get stored. Data corruption as sabotage.
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
@futurebird this!
Also, if you are being forced to do this, ask for this request/order *on paper* (or at least in writing).
I have been asked, at the eve of my IT career, to do a slightly unethical thing. I refused, but was told I have to do this anyway. I said: fine, but I would like this on paper, including the acknowledgement of my concerns.
It was never spoken of again, and never implemented. I kept my job, never had any grief from the higher ups about it either.
Paper trail is power.
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
@ithoughtisawa2 @futurebird sure. But they can do that regardless of the paper trail.
The paper trail provides you with a CYA policy. If they issue such an unethical directive and then try to blame it on you, you have something to prove you were pushing back against it.
"The more paper, the cleaner the arse", as they used to say in the Soviet Union.
I Thought I Saw A 2 :donor:
@rysiek @futurebird just don't think the paper trail will stop them from letting you go for some other reason.
Adam Shostack :donor: :rebelverified:
@rysiek @futurebird To build on what Raven said, you can often present a focus on clarity rather than ethics, and get people to see the ethical dilemmas and go do something else. This is less satisfying than a good table flip, but comes with a paycheck and a chance to do it again.
Misuse Case
@rysiek @futurebird This is super important, I learned it from one of my managers early in my career. If someone has a verbal conversation with you at work where they tell you to do something problematic, either tell them to put it in writing or send them an email following up on/recapping the conversation to cover yourself.
Cainmark Does Not Comply
@MisuseCase @rysiek @futurebird
Best advice I had from the best boss I ever had was: Save everything. Every email, every letter, every post k-it note. Never volunteer for anything. Make sure your job is spelled out and nothing gets quietly added (got monumentally screwed on the last part when they refused to fill back necessary full time positions).
A post-it note signed by the person who was trying to get me into trouble for doing what they specifically asked me to do worked wonders.
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