I have worked for more than one company that worried about open source license issues from copy-paste. While Slashdot has agreements specifying an open source license for all posted code, we worried that the person posting the code may not have had permission to post it.

With newer developers being eager to impress, they sometimes searched for the fastest way to get working code into the product so they could mark a task 'complete'.

Another worry; products like BlackDuck often showed matches to open source code whose license was not business-friendly. Maybe because the original came from the product. Maybe because the product developers also copy-pasted from Slashdot. No one knows and management gets nervous.

Want to make everyone REALLY nervous? Just let the new developer include a comment in the code that says: // copied this solution from Slashdot article: http:/// ...

We had to work hard to raise employee awareness of why they should NOT copy-paste from websites.

I guess James will have to shift to making videos about being replaced by robots....

Technical expertise is only one part of the whole picture. But it may be the part people thrust into the interviewer chair are most familiar with. Sometimes the interviews feel like a final exam and I wonder if they interviewer had final exams pretty recently.

I have been known to point out these annoying little things to my colleagues when we are hunting to fill positions:

Do the candidates' personalities mesh well with yours? Do you think you can stand being around them and working with them day after day?
Will they be reliable?
Do they seem easy to train? They will need to learn how this group does business and works together after all.
Do they express curiosity when they don't know the real answer?
Do they make things up to fake an answer? Or do they say "I don't know the answer, but based on my experience I would guess this..."?
Do they communicate well? Do they listen well?

It is healthy for your career. Making sure your manager knows how well you are handling it is an important part of the getting a promotion.

I don't know any "unofficial" ways to deal with this that you have not heard. I have wondered if a group "intervention" might work, but I have never seen it tried in a workplace. I have tried talking bluntly to some difficult people. The results have varied. I think the times when I got some good results, I had kept their point of view in mind. Be prepared to have more than one such conversation.

Getting anyone to change behavior may be very difficult if the behavior has been allowed for a long time. If unofficial ways don't work, then you will need the help of someone above the gaslighter. (But that is an "official" way to do something, which was not your question.)

So below this point is a compromise of some "unofficial" ways to get "official" help.

You might discuss your concerns with managers or directors who are not involved, but are in nearby or related departments which share upper management. Pick one that has been in the company long enough to know upper managers. They can tell you which person up the chain will probably listen.

If there is a group that goes out for food and drinks after work occasionally, go with them. You may get more open advice away from the company's office. You may find that they start the conversation by asking you about the gaslighter.

Do all of this respectfully. If you come across as just bashing the gaslighter and your own boss, you may hurt yourself. Try to remember that you may want a job reference in the future.

When you find the right person to approach for "official" help, keep the company's interests in mind while making your case.

Try https://sallyridescience.com/

With such a huge number of customers (competition aside), the resulting company would become a huge CDN player. Maybe the biggest?

Would Netflix or anyone else need Akamai or others?

Wouldn't this violate their "safe harbor" protection? This would mean they would know about violations and they might even benefit from them by saying "get it legally FROM OUR STORE"

Too many people forget the liability is about the possible consequences. The consequences in your analogy just don't compare.
- If a bridge collapses, there are real damages such as deaths, injuries needing long-term care, injuries needing short-term care.
- If software fails, information gets copied.
These are not the same.

You say its time to demand professional behavior. Then do it. Buy your software from the better behaved company even if it costs more.

Plenty of examples have been made of programs that had encryption, but did not use the encryption correctly. This resulted in security that was defeated in a few steps by skilled people.

Sad to say that we have headphones because we work in cheap space that does not shield us from noise or each other. If you had a better way to control noise, you would not need them.

Relate this to the recent article about productivity boosts due to working at home and think about it from a noise perspective. You have more ability to control noise in your own home.

You might say the headphones allow us to guard the quality of the hours we are working, so we don't have to increase their quantity.

What? People more productive?

Why? They are only:
- away from noisy cubes.
- away from hallway meetings.
- saving time from a commute.
- saving aggravation from a commute.
- a few feet from their private bathrooms and break-rooms. (Not several hundred feet down a long, busy hall.)

BellSouth (now AT&T) also discovered a productivity boost among employees allowed to telecommute during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

If the FBI wants to watch all the data, then:

- They should just pay for all the hosting, backups and bandwidth.
- Include surveillance in the terms of service.
- Then offer the services to everyone for free.

I remember watching him on the Salvage1 tv show way back when.

I recall it inspiring me to think that someone could go if they wanted it badly enough. And that is what the X-Prize foundation is also trying to do.

(Arguments always seem weaker to me when started with "IF"...)

The largest numbers of customers will consistently choose a flat-rate plan over a metered plan for very simple family reasons as well as economic reasons.

People buy data services for the whole family or household to use. If Dad has to start yelling at family members about using too much, then Dad will shut it off or quickly switch to a flat-rate plan. (Anyone else pay more for flat-rate texting for kids' cell phones?)

Surprise bills put stress on relationships as well as wallets. People don't like them. And in uncertain times, they will be a hard sell.