HACKER Q&A
📣 FreezeBurn

What do you think of working for a startup that helps arresting people?


Hi, I just got contacted by a startup developing anti-shoplifting software, for a developer job(I did not apply, they reached out to me), their product is working pretty well, it's used in a bunch of stores and already contributed to arrests...

On the technical side, I'm a perfect fit, I worked on extremely similar software(it was just a school project though), it seems like a great place to work(great incubator, founders from the best school in my country, lots of clients, modern stack...), but I'm not sure I'm ready to contribute to software that potentially sends poor people to jail, I've been on the "other side", so I'm biased ofc, and I'm not sure I could look myself in the mirror if people were jailed "because" of my work.

I should add that I'm days/weeks away from being completely broke, after that I'll either have to borrow money, or go back to my parents in a city with virtually no tech jobs, so I'm still tempted.

I just went through an interview with another great startup(without any ethical issues), it went OK, and I have another interview with them next week, but it's far from certain that I'll get hired.

Those are the only 2 companies that offered me interviews recently(but I didn't apply to a lots of jobs, since most of the good ones are gone since the pandemic)

What would you do in my position?Do you think that a job like this should be considered unethical?

  👤 trcollinson Accepted Answer ✓
Is shoplifting ethical and catching shoplifters unethical? I realize there are circumstances that bring people to the point where they feel that shoplifting is the only answer to their problem, but shoplifting is still illegal and for good reason.

Now, if it turns out that their system targets specific races of people, or only catches a certain "class" of people, that is unethical. But if it is an inventory protection system, there is nothing unethical about that. You may say "but some users may use it unethically to only arrest certain people." Yes, that might be but you can't assume everyone is going to use every piece of software ethically, and that doesn't make the software unethical.

I think you need to examine your ideas about ethics, morality, and the law. Collectively, as a society, we think theft is bad. Keep that in mind.

👤 taurath
I’ll take another tack than the others here - it is unethical. You are commoditizing and automating private law enforcement. You’re assisting putting people who generally only shoplift because they’re poor into a cycle of criminality. We have done extremely little as a society to support poor people, and up until 60 years ago we’re actively spraying down PoC with hoses. It’s not good. It’s like manufacturing tear gas.

Now there’s plenty of ways to self justify this. There is a need for shopkeepers to deter theft. There are ethical ways of going about it, but keep in mind if you are 100% effective you will be almost exclusively be catching poor people who wouldn’t shoplift if they weren’t poor. If you desperately need money to survive, then take care of yourself. But IMO you’re right to ask.

👤 lgl
My 2 cents: It's a dev job, and you're a dev in need of work so I'd say take it until you find something better.

The unethical part is relative because from that point of view, the people working at FAANG would probably also be responsible for a lot more imprisonments, deaths and destruction than the one you're going to be working for.

Good luck.

👤 avilesj
I hardly see a scenario where shoplifting is acceptable. Hell, the only possible scenario I might "tolerate" would be if it was food (As in, you are so poor you can't afford to eat).

I wouldn't mind working on that kind of software tho, specially if I am "days/weeks away from being completely broke".

👤 nmstoker
You do not give a clear indication of your country. How you feel about the handling of suspects and trials and the imprisonment of those who are guilty will be a large input. If you're in a country where the act of arrest is itself brutal, that alone may be enough to put you off. Again if you think that people won't get a fair trial or if they do and yet face horrors in jail then maybe it will put you off.

However the counter side is to explore could this be a source for good overall. Clearly you shouldn't be naively over optimistic but is it plausible this system may improve matters over the current situation? If a number of innocent people are currently arrested by biased store detectives then a system that highlights a higher portion of genuinely guilty people would be a positive.

👤 giantg2
How would you feel if you owned a store and people shoplifted?
👤 codegeek
"I should add that I'm days/weeks away from being completely broke,"

tl;dr: Take the job.

You can always change it later but if you are going to be broke, I am sorry but that is not going to help anyone including yourself. Help yourself first before you can think of being moral or helping others. Just my 2 cents.