Raspberry Pi hires a former cop, and responds poorly to the public response

Maolfunction · Dec 8, 2022

The social media team for Raspberry Pi is having a day.

View: https://twitter.com/Raspberry_Pi/status/1600761840367448064?t=X9t-5LaqyEYOHNqdEA04UA&s=19

"I used to be a police officer tackling serious organised crime and terror threats across the east of the UK," Toby tells us. "I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear. You really don't want your sensitive police equipment discovered, so I'd disguise it as something else, like a piece of street furniture or a household item. The variety of tools and equipment I used then really shaped what I do today."

As you might imagine, people were concerned with the notion that a former surveillance officer was now working with Raspberry Pi, considering the release put out didn't specify what exactly this guy was doing for them. Was Raspberry Pi planning on inserting surveillance code into their products and if not, why are they hiring ex-cops? (to make lightsabers, apparently, according to their official mastodon account)

The social media team responded like any modern brand on social media: with attitude, and blocks.

View: https://twitter.com/jakejarvis/status/1600847484905197568?t=FC6kOtUID0FW1e8myZUI4A&s=19

It's been a very good lesson on why you should hire an experienced and diverse management team. Because they're currently tanking their brand reputation among the tech circles who use their products the most.

super-famicom · Dec 8, 2022

The Raspberry Pi is an amazing piece of tech, but fuck the fuck off with this shitty hiring.

Deleted member 27921 · Dec 8, 2022

Toby tells us. "I was a Technical Surveillance Officer for 15 years, so I built stuff to hide video, audio, and other covert gear. You really don't want your sensitive police equipment discovered, so I'd disguise it as something else, like a piece of street furniture or a household item. The variety of tools and equipment I used then really shaped what I do today."

Sounds great, Toby!

Guess I'll never buy one of their products again. At least they were up-front about it, i suppose.

davepoobond · Dec 8, 2022

my guess is they are looking into developing miniaturization/diversification of their product line.

Joe · Dec 8, 2022

Yeah, this seems to me like one of those things that could be non-story with a good social media response, but instead they're choosing to ignore and antagonize their fans. Dumb choice. Of course people are a little wary when the new hire is a guy who specializes in hiding surveillance equipment, touting his skill in making sure his surveillance can't be found.

mute · Dec 8, 2022

Several people thought this would be a good idea.

Transistor · Dec 8, 2022

Whelp, off to Orange Pi then

The Albatross · Dec 8, 2022

What a ... weird thing. "WE HIRED A COP!" ... "okay... why does that matter?" "STOP BULLYING I'M BLOCKING YOU"

CloseTalker · Dec 8, 2022

Almost everything about this is truly bizarre. Not just the responses, but that they felt the need to announce it like this in the first place. How odd

Senator Toadstool · Dec 8, 2022

This seems like a weird non story but their response makes it one. Very weird

super-famicom · Dec 8, 2022

Transistor said:
Whelp, off to Orange Pi then

Oh thank you for mentioning this. After reading the article, I was wondering if there were any good alternatives to Raspberry Pi.

obin_gam · Dec 8, 2022

Whats rasberry pi?

RobotHaus · Dec 8, 2022

Why'd they pick the picture where he's attacking? Why a cop? Why announce it?

Okabe · Dec 8, 2022

obin_gam said:
Whats rasberry pi?

A desert

Tendo · Dec 8, 2022

They made that post just to stir shit up and be antagonistic. "hey tony, can you burn some public good will before you punch out today?"

Butch · Dec 8, 2022

They are clearly not handling it well, but also, just let the ex police be happy with his new job in gaming

super-famicom · Dec 8, 2022

obin_gam said:
Whats rasberry pi?

Basically a tiny computer that can fit in your pocket. You can install Linux on it and do a ton of cool things with it. It's a really good educational project for students as well.

The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages like Scratch and Python. It's capable of doing everything you'd expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, and playing games.

Vincent Alexander · Dec 8, 2022

Butch said:
They are clearly not handling it well, but also, just let the ex police be happy with his new job in gaming

I'd be a bit more okay if he wasn't talking up his history of spying on people. Like....that's not something to brag about.

Sensei · Dec 8, 2022

why did they announce this

Bobson Dugnutt · Dec 8, 2022

is there any point in speaking about hiring decisions like this unless it's to announce a CEO or addressing a public controversy rather than creating one? feels like it would have been in a trade publication barely anyone would have read back in the day, but now it's a thing that terminally online people can see and be annoyed about

wenis · Dec 8, 2022

need to go back to not having forward facing employees in your company. You know whats great? A brand who just manages their main brand social media accounts and thats it. Not also juggling every single employee, its dumb and hopefully they're learning the lesson that its unneeded.

Akira86 · Dec 8, 2022

Butch said:
They are clearly not handling it well, but also, just let the ex police be happy with his new job in gaming

in this new world of IoT things surreptitiously phoning home and diming you out, people worried about companies suddenly taking a friendly to law and order stance is more than reasonable. And if the company response is to get as defensive as a 12 year old caught in a lie, that's more than noticeable.

OrangeNova · Dec 8, 2022

Butch said:
They are clearly not handling it well, but also, just let the ex police be happy with his new job in gaming

Raspberry pi isn't gaming, while a lot of people use it for retro pi it has a ton of other uses, including as a small working computer.

As for why it's bad, this guy working for the police specialized in essentially making spy gear for them, devices smaller, hiding things in other things, etc... so people who use RPi's for privacy or security stuff watching the company hire someone who spied for the police isn't a great look for a lot of their users.

Tater · Dec 8, 2022

Maolfunction said:
It's been a very good lesson on why you should hire an experienced and diverse management team. Because they're currently tanking their brand reputation among the tech circles who use their products the most.

IMHO, they've tanked their reputation far more since their products have been impossible to find in stock anywhere for some time. I know that they're not responsible for the world's supply chain woes, but I can get a PS5/Xbox/Steam Deck with relative ease now. It's still impossible to get a PI or Pi Zero at MSRP.

Sketchsanchez · Dec 8, 2022

So i dont understand the initial blowback. Is this guy, because he used to be a cop, not allowed to work anywhere else ever again? Thats such a nothing to be mad about, no wonder they started blocking people.

NotVeryFriendly · Dec 8, 2022

Bobson Dugnutt said:
is there any point in speaking about hiring decisions like this unless it's to announce a CEO or addressing a public controversy rather than creating one? feels like it would have been in a trade publication barely anyone would have read back in the day, but now it's a thing that terminally online people can see and be annoyed about

Quite a lot of companies will 'highlight' regular employees and give some context on their background etc. as a way to promote the company's diverse hiring culture. Sometimes this is in the form of a social media 'takeover', or sometimes through posts like this.

Maolfunction · Dec 8, 2022

Tater said:
IMHO, they've tanked their reputation far more since their products have been impossible to find in stock anywhere for some time. I know that they're not responsible for the world's supply chain woes, but I can get a PS5/Xbox/Steam Deck with relative ease now. It's still impossible to get a PI or Pi Zero at MSRP.

Yeah, I've been unhappy with them for a while due to how they've abandoned their ideals to pursue big corporate contracts instead. Not sure what's going on behind the scenes, but they're acting like they're the only fish in the pond able to do whatever they want when there's plenty of alternatives that the people who work in the tech space can use instead.

Alavard · Dec 8, 2022

Sketchsanchez said:
So i dont understand the initial blowback. Is this guy, because he used to be a cop, not allowed to work anywhere else ever again? Thats such a nothing to be mad about, no wonder they started blocking people.

You really don't understand why people are unhappy that they're gloating about hiring a cop who admits he used their equipment to spy on people for years?

Foot · Dec 8, 2022

All they had to do was say, "haha, no, we aren't going to spy on anyone! He's actually doing ______"

RiOrius · Dec 8, 2022

Vincent Alexander said:
I'd be a bit more okay if he wasn't talking up his history of spying on people. Like....that's not something to brag about.

It sounds like he's talking about how his experience is relevant. He likes building things and tinkering and whatnot. Now he gets to do it in a more productive capacity.

You hear "cop hired for an electronics company" and you think "that doesn't make any sense," but the dude was doing electronics stuff for the cops and it starts to click, yeah?

Spinluck · Dec 8, 2022

don't really care about the hiring. but their response is wild, wtf lol.

Jakisthe · Dec 8, 2022

Eh, don't care. I thought they were supposed to be uniforms one could take off, and not their identity.

John Caboose · Dec 8, 2022

RiOrius said:
It sounds like he's talking about how his experience is relevant. He likes building things and tinkering and whatnot. Now he gets to do it in a more productive capacity.

You hear "cop hired for an electronics company" and you think "that doesn't make any sense," but the dude was doing electronics stuff for the cops and it starts to click, yeah?

Exactly. The internet was a mistake.

Sketchsanchez · Dec 8, 2022

Alavard said:
You really don't understand why people are unhappy that they're gloating about hiring a cop who admits he used their equipment to spy on people for years?

He admitted to working on police tech, his job. Yeah, who cares? Does he have misconduct on his record? A racist, maybe? Any of that? We don't know, so its based purely on his old profession and yeah, I dont get it. It screams Extremely Online nonsense fuckery.

imax · Dec 8, 2022

Sketchsanchez said:
So i dont understand the initial blowback. Is this guy, because he used to be a cop, not allowed to work anywhere else ever again? Thats such a nothing to be mad about, no wonder they started blocking people.

Alavard said:
You really don't understand why people are unhappy that they're gloating about hiring a cop who admits he used their equipment to spy on people for years?

I don't mean to interrupt your discussion but I think it's worth adding some extra context that it's a guy who specifically worked in counter-terrorism in the UK - a place where policing is very different to the pseudo-military, overfunded US system. The optics are bad from a surface standpoint but he doesn't deserve the abuse in some of the hidden tweets, and I don't think it's unreasonable to block those responsible for that.

joedick · Dec 8, 2022

RiOrius said:
It sounds like he's talking about how his experience is relevant. He likes building things and tinkering and whatnot. Now he gets to do it in a more productive capacity.

You hear "cop hired for an electronics company" and you think "that doesn't make any sense," but the dude was doing electronics stuff for the cops and it starts to click, yeah?

I can see how people would find the surveillance aspect troubling without context.

LumberPanda · Dec 8, 2022

Hiring the dude to make stuff: fine. It's not like he's currently a cop.

Promoting "we hired a cop whose specialty is spying on people, in order to build mini computers inside your house" and then going nuclear on social media because people express that they don't like cops that specialize in spying on people building mini computers inside their homes: not fine. Could've just kept their mouth shut and just have him do his job.

It actually makes sense that someone with experience making mini tech would be a good hire for a mini tech company. It doesn't make sense to fucking be like "look, we just scored a surveillance expert to help with mini tech in your home! Look look look!!!"

Baji Boxer · Dec 8, 2022

Sketchsanchez said:
So i dont understand the initial blowback. Is this guy, because he used to be a cop, not allowed to work anywhere else ever again? Thats such a nothing to be mad about, no wonder they started blocking people.

Ask yourself how tech people in general feel about tech companies putting spyware or hidden surveillance shit in their products. Now look at what this guy's area of expertise was and how his hiring is messaged. They should've easily seen this coming. If he were something like an ex-homicide detective or hostage negotiator it probably would be a very different reaction.

Jedi2016 · Dec 8, 2022

They don't even come with an operating system, how do people think this "hidden code" would work?

Slayven · Dec 8, 2022

The Albatross said:
What a ... weird thing. "WE HIRED A COP!" ... "okay... why does that matter?" "STOP BULLYING I'M BLOCKING YOU"

Yeah, you flex weird and when people call you out you get mad.

Amazing how years of good will can be flushed in an afternoon

StreetsAhead · Dec 8, 2022

Okabe said:
A desert

Where's it located?

Supercrap · Dec 8, 2022

Baji Boxer said:
Ask yourself how tech people in general feel about tech companies putting spyware or hidden surveillance shit in their products. Now look at what this guy's area of expertise was and how his hiring is messaged. They should've easily seen this coming. If he were something like an ex-homicide detective or hostage negotiator it probably would be a very different reaction.

tbh he probably utilized raspberry pi to help catch crooks, not coding surveillance into raspberry pi's or anything like that

He's probably as much of a raspberry pi enthusiast as the customers hes now serving

TrojanAg · Dec 8, 2022

"WE HIRED A COP!"

Yeah, that'll really get people on your side...

Akira86 · Dec 8, 2022

Jedi2016 said:
They don't even come with an operating system, how do people think this "hidden code" would work?

IoT things have it in the firmware.

Jedi2016 · Dec 8, 2022

Akira86 said:
IoT things have it in the firmware.

As if people wouldn't be able to find it on a Pi and kill it? Firmware isn't invisible or uneditable.

Baji Boxer · Dec 8, 2022

Supercrap said:
tbh he probably utilized raspberry pi to help catch crooks, not coding surveillance into raspberry pi's or anything like that

He's probably as much of a raspberry pi enthusiast as the customers hes now serving

Probably. I might feel kind of bad for the guy, but the announcement and reaction to the backlash just has me questioning if anyone involved on their end has spent a significant amount of time on the internet lol.

Deleted member 4212 · Dec 8, 2022

On the bright side, one less cop

PaulloDEC · Dec 8, 2022

Senator Toadstool said:
This seems like a weird non story but their response makes it one. Very weird

Agreed. There's nothing newsworthy here besides their response.

Also, to everyone suggesting the public response was justified because people are concerned that raspberry pi are going to start hiding surveillance tech in their products... why the hell would they make this announcement if that was their plan? What kind of maniac starts their secret surveillance plan by announcing they've hired a secret surveillance expert?

JJD · Dec 8, 2022

I love me some Bishop juice in the morning!

Stencil · Dec 8, 2022

Sensei said:
why did they announce this

A lot of companies do this as part of their social media plan, in order to create a welcoming looking company atmosphere. "We're real people!"
Usually as a tactic to attract more potential employees/job applicants.

Raspberry Pi hires a former cop, and responds poorly to the public response

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