This assumes that Path (or any company) would be foolish enough to make their intentions clear.
If a developer refused to implement a feature due to their ethics then the company would do the following:
* Move engineer to different project
* Set unrealistic goals/deadlines/expectations
* After engineer fails, voice concern about performance
* Set up performance review and improvement plan
* After causing engineer to fail a second time due to unrealistic expectations, fire them due to poor performance
Even if that engineer writes a blog post, enough has happened between his initial refusal and termination as to make conclusive proof impossible. The discussion will be a he-said-she-said affair as his former employer makes a counter-blog post explaining the engineer's poor performance.
A lawsuit is similarly out of the question as most companies have sufficient funds to cause delays in court, thereby causing you to spend all your money on attorney fees and bleeding you dry.
Yup. SOP in the food service industry is to give employees who are underperforming 4 hours per week, on the slowest shift, and just leave them there until they quit.
Honestly, if you refuse to do something on ethical grounds and then are moved around, you know what's going on. Most people aren't clueless to office politics and at that point it's your decision to blow the whistle or shut up and watch it happen in spite of your oath.
It's not like hospitals haven't contended with this exact thing for a very long time. The wills of surgeons/doctors and their hospital administrators do not always match up.
If a developer refused to implement a feature due to their ethics then the company would do the following:
* Move engineer to different project
* Set unrealistic goals/deadlines/expectations
* After engineer fails, voice concern about performance
* Set up performance review and improvement plan
* After causing engineer to fail a second time due to unrealistic expectations, fire them due to poor performance
Even if that engineer writes a blog post, enough has happened between his initial refusal and termination as to make conclusive proof impossible. The discussion will be a he-said-she-said affair as his former employer makes a counter-blog post explaining the engineer's poor performance.
A lawsuit is similarly out of the question as most companies have sufficient funds to cause delays in court, thereby causing you to spend all your money on attorney fees and bleeding you dry.