this post was submitted on 29 Feb 2024
0 points (NaN% liked)

Programming

16977 readers
168 users here now

Welcome to the main community in programming.dev! Feel free to post anything relating to programming here!

Cross posting is strongly encouraged in the instance. If you feel your post or another person's post makes sense in another community cross post into it.

Hope you enjoy the instance!

Rules

Rules

  • Follow the programming.dev instance rules
  • Keep content related to programming in some way
  • If you're posting long videos try to add in some form of tldr for those who don't want to watch videos

Wormhole

Follow the wormhole through a path of communities !webdev@programming.dev

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
snowe@programming.dev
Ategon@programming.dev
MaungaHikoi@lemmy.nz
0
The Tech Industry Doesn’t Understand Consent - Dhole Moments (soatok.blog)
submitted 6 months ago by Corbin@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The tech industry understands consent just fine, the corpos will ignore the idea however if it means less revenue and can't have that because capitalism.

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to every one of these shitty clickbait article authors about "tech industry" and "software engineering circles" that the authors aren't dense and know random code monkeys aren't evil or too stupid to figure out opt-in is more ethical, they just work for corps that have to make money because capitalism, but they post their stupid garbage anyway because it gets clicks.

Don't post it here.

[–] porgamrer@programming.dev 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Why would you discourage interesting, original journalism over such an obtuse nitpick?

They are clearly criticising the same capitalist structures that you are. They single out the tech industry because the article is about the misuse of tech, not because they think rank and file tech workers are deviants.

Frankly it comes off as fragile and dismissive, and if that's what we're doing we could have just stayed on reddit.

[–] cbarrick@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

While the tone of the comment is dismissive, they have a point.

It's not the engineers that are the problem, or even limited to the tech industry. Dark patterns are top-down business decisions, motivated by money.

It's not that the "tech industry doesn't understand consent," but rather that greedy people do evil things. And software is just a low hanging fruit for that kind of business.

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's not the engineers that are the problem, or even limited to the tech industry. Dark patterns are top-down business decisions, motivated by money.

Just following orders, right?

Come on, that’s not how morality works.

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Are you a moron? Because you sound like one. Are you really equating wageslaves working for Google instead of facilitating the sale of gazillions of far more unethical products at their local Walmart by being an associate customer success checkout wagie or smth to soldiers committing attrocities? Do you not even realize the "you hate prison, yet you participate in it - curious" levels of bullshit that view entails?

Because if you did that you'd be a moron. You are a moron.

[–] vzq@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Are you seriously suggesting knowledge workers have no responsibility for how their work is used?

[–] HowManyNimons@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We have limited options in what we can do to get money. I currently have a job where I'm proud of what I do, but it took decades of working for assholes to get there. Even now I'm not comfortable with everything I'm asked to do. I push back when it's unethical, and sometimes that changes things. Sometimes it doesn't and I just have to do as I'm told. What's your life like?

[–] Corbin@programming.dev 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I directly tell my managers that what they are asking for is illegal, and then I refuse to do it. So far, I've yet to be forced to "do as I'm told," and I doubt that this will ever be a problem for me as I don't intend to sign up for the military or any other organization that can actually force people to follow orders.

[–] HowManyNimons@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't get asked to do illegal things fortunately.

[–] Corbin@programming.dev -1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

But you do sometimes get asked to do "unethical" things, and you're "proud of what [you] do" even though "sometimes … [you] just have to do as [you're] told." Why? It sounds like you've chosen a compromised position "to get money."

[–] HowManyNimons@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

Because we're all human beings and we all think slightly differently to each other. If I wanted to only work with people who exactly agreed with me about everything, then I would only be able to work alone.

I'm not talking about things that are red lines for me, just preferences. If it were something that caused me dissonance I'd move on again, I promise you.

I'm lucky enough to have the background and the aptitude to get a new job whenever I want. Most people aren't that lucky.

[–] phonyphanty@pawb.social 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Nowhere in the article does the author pin blame on individual employees. "Tech industry" obviously refers to corporations, not individual contributors. The title isn't clickbait.

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

"Tech industry" does not mean that, it could just as well mean "people in the tech industry" which means "people who work in the tech industry". The author uses this because it's the boogeyman du jour with Sam altman and such but his entire essay is dancing around the point that it's capitalism and has nothing to do with tech or is even specific to it. They would've probably had more of an article if they tried to specifically tie it to Nestle than the Tech Industry but it wouldn't get them those precious clicks.

[–] peter@feddit.uk 1 points 6 months ago

This also isn't only the tech industry, it's any industry. Pushy door to door salespeople aren't in the tech industry.