It was at a Software Development conference panel discussion several years ago that an audience member asked a question none of us could answer adequately: "I'm a developer at a medical device company," I recall him saying. "Our testing process is insufficient and is leading to a faulty product that could cause harm. What should I do?" The various responses were obvious: Talk to your boss, talk to the testers. But we had missed the deeper matter: This man was asking how to be a whistleblower-a dangerous and oft-shirked duty. In fact, social mores often make us suspect the whistleblower, rather than the organization whose actions she critiques. And once dissenters come under fire, we see them in the unattractive context of self-defense and anger-and who among us is at his best when stalked by an advancing mob?
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