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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 30th, 2023

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  • Not a lawyer.
    But how to “cover your ass”.

    If pressured to still send a quote with it included, ask your manager to email over the details - ie get it in writing.
    You are looking for them to tell you to include this unprovidable service in the quote as part of the details/instructions.
    IE your manager to tell you to do the unethical thing in writing.
    And respond back along the lines of “as discussed, we can’t provide this service and can’t procure it from the upstream provider. However I will do as instructed and email the quote to the customer with this service included”.
    This is indicating that you have discussed it (ideally save any other emails about this subject).
    If your boss emails back “we haven’t discussed this”, then raise the issue in writing and don’t send the quote until it is resolved by email (if your boss talks to you in person, feel free to send a “follow up” email outlining what you discussed and ask for clarification).
    If your boss emails back “do as you are told”, then do as you are told.
    Save all the emails.

    BCC to a personal account will be seen in server logs. Better to export backups or take screenshots and put them on a USB. Or ZIP them with a password and find a way to exfil them without raising red flags if USB devices are restricted. There are many ways to do this, I’m sure I can suggest some.

    Generally, working under instruction where your pushback might lead to termination generally results in unfair dismissal and settlements.
    Especially if you can prove that you have raised the issue, and still been told to proceed.

    It doesn’t sound like this is a risk-to-life or risk-to-public scenario, so I don’t think “whistle blower” procedures are needed.



  • Some do?

    https://www.itv.com/news/2024-11-20/why-is-the-use-of-anti-personnel-mines-in-ukraine-so-controversial

    Some mines are designed to have a time limit on them and become inactive after a set period of time.

    However, other mines can remain active and dangerous for many years after the conflict has ended.

    According my linked article:

    US officials says the mines they send Ukraine will be “non-persistent”, meaning they have an internal mechanism to shorten the lifespan of the trigger.

    The mines are designed to become inert after a set period of time ranging from as little as four hours to two weeks, officials said.

    They say the mines use an electrical fuse that requires a battery, and the mine becomes inert when the battery runs out.

    The US intends for Kyiv to use the anti-personnel mines in the eastern part of the country, US officials said, where Russian troops have made slow and steady progress against Ukrainian defensive lines.

    Ukraine has also made assurances they will try to limit the risk to civilians.



  • I consider myself technically apt.

    I was expecting a parcel from abroad so was expecting to have to pay customs.
    Received an SMS that looked fairly legit, from a named SMS number that didn’t set off an alarm bell, asking for additional information. The only red flag that got me were some unusually personal questions, like date of birth. I was close to giving away a bunch of personal details.

    Another one was a “your parking permit is about to expire”. We recently had permitted parking introduced, and I figured I’d messed something up. But thankfully I looked into that via the councils parking permit page, and knew I was months away from an expiry.

    My parents received a “help, I’ve flushed my phone down the toilet and need a new one for work tomorrow. Sorry for the strange number, I’ve borrowed a friend’s phone. Can you send me $$$ to [account details] so I can get a new phone?” from a scammer pretending to be my sister.
    Apparently they made it up to a “this is a new account number, are you sure this isn’t a scam?” prompt in their banking app when they finally decided to try and contact her. She immediately picked up and said “stop, it’s a scam”.

    It doesn’t take much to make you vulnerable to social engineering.
    An expectation of events and something that would normally red flag suddenly doesn’t seem suspicious.
    An emotional manipulation, time pressure, all that stuff, and it’s easy to ignore red flags.

    I always say “if you ever feel pressure, take a moment and analyse the situation”. Time pressure, emotional pressure. And analyse looking for anything that seems odd, then pick at that thread.