Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/17/equifax-sploitation.html
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4 Likes
Little guy = jail or house arrest.
Big corporations = paltry fine or slap on the wrist.
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So some IT guy was asked to create a website with a suspicious name, deduced from no other information that he might make some money selling his employer short, and he got this punishment for it. To be a relatively fair punishment, the people who decided to cover up the security leak as long as possible (and presumably asked him to design this site) should get the guillotine.
6 Likes
Is any corporation truly our friend?
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Gosh, they really threw the book at him.
Sure, if you’re the majority share holder 
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Truly. He’ll have to do all the things he normally does online, online!!! The horror. And have Safeway deliver his groceries, and Amazon deliver his gadgets. How will he possibly survive? 
Meanwhile, 61 percent or so of people in pre-trial detention (“innocent until proven guilty”… :-/) are black, and many will spend more time in jail before even having a trial than this guy will spend in his cushy house.
11 Likes
Good plan. How could he ever repeat his crime while on house arrest? He can’t even go to the telegraph office to send a wire to his broker!
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Um, so, the CEO who dumped his stock in advance of the announcement?
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Well, book sales being what they are these days, one can’t expect throwing the book to be a substantial punishment anymore. Throwing 280 characters at him… now that’s a punishment.
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So, the judge maybe threw a blog post at him? 
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I used to work in credit and collections and the time I spent filing reports and collecting data from Equifax, I knew it wasn’t going to be a happy future. There were so many mistakes made on their part, postings to people’s accounts that were messed up and that cost people the ability to get a house or a car. Equifax even was demanding people fix their own mistakes in ways that violated collection laws! When I would call the assistance line, which I dreaded, one of the excuses I would get was “Do you know how many forms we file a day?” “Yeah, isn’t that kind of your job?” It left me with that notion that I should stuff a mattress with whatever I managed to save and only buy used cars from people I knew.
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Even then, if they had a reason to turn on them I bet they would.
I haven’t followed the series past the first season, but this is what I think of whenever someone says that corporations are people:
To be fair, no one really “uses their services,” we’re just forced to be the product.
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Stuff like this and the Volkswagen scandal make me realize that software engineers should be paid even higher as a form of hazard pay.
Or, you know, recognize that we’re going to get thrown under the bus if we implement ANYTHING unethical/illegal for the bosses, and to push back.
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