BTW, peripheral to this, let me tell you about a friend of mine. He
worked for a major computer hardware/software company for a lot of
years, and had advanced to the upper levels of the company. Four
years ago the company opened a subsidiary in India. My friend and
everyone else at the company were assured that the Indian subsidiary
would be handling business in India, China, and the rest of Asia, and
that the US company would continue as always serving the North and
South American markets. My friend began to make regular trips to
India, and used to call me from Bombay to tell me how interesting the
place was and how exciting it was to be setting up their operations
there.
To make a long story short, just after Christmas I sent him an e-mail
because I hadn't heard from him for a while and wondered how he was
doing. I sent it to his office e-mail address as I usually did. It
bounced. I got hold of him a few days later and he told me they had
outsourced his job to the man he trained in India and let him go.
Now this is a very personal version of a story that I know has been
repeated over and over in the USA. His bosses just flat out lied to
him to get him to train someone who could replace him for 1/10 the
salary.
Business is business, they say. But morality has to enter the
picture at some point, and this sort of BS is just morally wrong.
Destroying people's lives to make a buck has become the new
management style. My friend has sunk into a deep depression and sees
his life as wasted. There must be a way to stop this. I'm doing my
part as much as possible by not buying products from companies that I
know have done this. Dollars and cents is the only language they
understand.
Bob
On Feb 11, 2006, at 10:00 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I have a friend who works for a computer consulting firm.
They were offered a job to write some software for handing China's
telephone
satellite system. (I think I have that right. Anyway, it was the
telephone
system, and I think it involved a satellite).
The government wanted them to leave a back door in the software so
they could
spy on their citizens. I.E. If they made antigovernment statements
they might
be arrested.
My friend wrestled with his conscience (it wasn't said why the Chinese
government wanted a backdoor, but he could deduce it).
He told his boss he couldn't do it and why. Big contract.
The consulting firm turned down the job. Well-aware aware someone
else WOULD
do it.
But still... I felt glad his boss supported him and showed backbone.
I don't think he'll mind I shared this, I've kept it general enough.
Marnie aka Doe
