Asked to do something illegal at work? Here's what these software engineers did

Moral Duty vs Economic Coercion

• One camp argues you have a clear moral and legal duty to refuse illegal acts, even if it costs your job; “orange jumpsuit” and long-term criminal liability outweigh short-term income.
• Others counter that this ignores real coercion from job loss: risk of homelessness, loss of healthcare, immigration status, family disruption. For many, “losing your job” is existential, not a luxury concern.
• Some distinguish rare cases where breaking unjust laws is moral from the much more common startup cases (fraud, fake users, abusive billing), where they see no excuse.
• There’s tension between “this is when ethics are tested” and “ethics are shaped by a coercive socioeconomic system.”

Likelihood and Cost of Punishment

• Several comments note people systematically underestimate the risk and cost of prosecution; “they don’t care about you” is seen as a dangerous assumption.
• Others emphasize that, especially for engineers, prison and personal liability are far worse than being fired, and criminal penalties are designed to change that calculus.

Whistleblowing, Retaliation, and Career Risk

• Serious fear of retaliation: firing, stalled careers, blacklisting via executive networks, or being scapegoated in investigations.
• Some argue retaliation itself is illegal and often backfires on companies; others say this is naïve in practice.
• Stronger whistleblower protections and substantial penalties for retaliation are widely desired; some suggest automatic criminal penalties for retaliators and larger rewards.
• Advice given: document instructions in writing, insist on email trails, consult an external lawyer early, go directly to regulators rather than internal counsel, and be ready to quit fast.

Professional Codes, Licensing, and Ethics

• Proposal: treat software like other engineering professions—licensing, enforceable codes of ethics, malpractice liability, possible loss of license.
• Supporters say this would give engineers a formal basis to refuse unethical directives (“I’d lose my license”) and create real consequences for negligence.
• Skeptics argue:
  • Existing licensed professions (medicine, civil engineering) still have major scandals; codes don’t prevent disasters.
  • Licensing can become a cartel, raising barriers to entry and concentrating power in politicized boards.
  • Ethics are nuanced; any enforceable code would be narrower and still leave gray areas.
• ACM/IEEE codes are cited as introspective tools, but with little real-world enforcement.

Examples of Questionable or Illegal Practices

• Multiple first-hand stories:
  • Government billing fraud (padding hours, fake staff for inspections).
  • R&D tax credit claims written by outsiders that grossly misrepresented work until engineers pushed back.
  • Insurance tooling manipulated to deny legally-mandated coverage to thousands of homeowners near coastlines.
  • Large health insurers allegedly targeting vulnerable patients (e.g., breast cancer) for policy cancellation.
  • Opioid distribution systems and incentives that amplified over-prescription.
  • Insecure APIs exposing intimate user histories; vendors knowingly leaving them that way.
• Dual-use tooling (e.g., Uber-style greybanning engines, rule engines at insurers) can protect users or help evade regulators, depending on how local managers use them.

Systemic and Legal Context

• Many argue these aren’t just “bad actors” but systemic incentives: executives and investors can gain massively from fraud while shifting legal risk downward.
• UK (and Australian) libel law and super-injunctions are criticized as chilling truthful disclosures due to huge legal costs even when defendants win.
• National Security Letters and similar secret orders pose a separate ethical problem: complying may be legal but conflicts with privacy duties; some try to pre-plan responses or limit their own access.

Personal Strategies and Pragmatic Advice

• Maintain an emergency fund and avoid “golden handcuffs” (overleveraged housing, concentrated equity) to preserve the ability to walk away.
• Do diligence on employers; red flags at hiring time strongly correlate with later ethical crises.
• Treat being asked to do something clearly illegal as highly abnormal; “this is not normal corporate dysfunction—leave quickly.”
• Recognize that resisting may only save you, not fix the system; but complicity still has moral and sometimes legal consequences.