> a systematic campaign fueled by the resources of a Fortune 500 company to emotionally and psychologically terrorize this middle aged couple in Natick, with the goal of deterring them from writing bad things online about eBay.

What jumped out for me, was that several of the criminals were involved in policing, security, intelligence, surveillance, and "special operations".

It's not hard to imagine that there's a corrupt and unethical streak in this subculture, since they are above the law in some sense. It's only a natural step, to abuse their power and treat the public with contempt or disdain.

It’s certainly not true of all who do this, but I’ve definitely seen cases where an employee is asked to do something and they see it as a career-changing opportunity to get close to an executive or something. People will do some crazy stuff to demonstrate loyalty. Companies that facilitate those kinds of culture are way less shy about bending rules and eschewing ethics.

Cops

But risking your career/potentially ruining your life because someone criticized your employer in a newsletter (or whatever happened exactly)? That's something you rebut in print or maybe get a lawyer involved if you think there are material/malicious falsehoods. The head of Communications must have skipped that class when they took communications in college.

i.e someone used to committing illegal intimitation with impunity, while being accustomed to responding to criticism with tear gas?

Getting your hands dirty on behalf of megalomaniac titans of industry can be “just a job” too. What’s the point of being rich, if not to bring CIA-level resources to bear on your personal dramas? Worked for Ghosn.

I doubt it’s personal for the security professionals. In fact I bet they’re rolling their eyes at “the client” when he’s not around. All it takes is one crazy executive.

The behavior reminds me of how Holmes & Theranos behaved and responded to criticism and things she didn't like.

Throwing out an opinion: I'd suspect the primary instigator is a sociopath and started the process, then roped the others in one by one. What's described in that nine minute video, is so far outside the realm of normal behavior, the person that started this is probably severely behaviorally defective.

It reeks of sociopathic behavior, including the way there was an attempt to then find & set up candidates to take the fall back in California, as the Natick police began investigating.

You ought to take pride on a job well-done, enjoy being part of a team with coworkers, and feel that your company does something positive. An online auction site is a positive thing, one reason among many being that it promotes reuse rather than throwing things out.

But to harass someone, to break laws? That's beyond the healthy boundary. That's why boundaries exist. That's gone to unhealthy self-identification with the company. Which is what baffles me so much.

When people go from "it's more than a job" to "I'll commit crimes for this company", it's baffling and scary.

Regarding "Executive 1", it supports your point -- no work/life boundary.

In my mind, if a man was truly concerned about how others view his character, as reflected by his work, he would not join a "tech" company! :)

He will not be charged despite ordering the harassment. I wonder what the blog author thinks about that.

It could be that, a fanatical devotion to the mission that goes beyond all reason.

But another possibility is that there is something different wrong with them where these sorts of tactics (and risks) don't seem that outlandish to them. Maybe for them, it doesn't require devotion to escalate things to this level. This may not be the first time they've done stuff like this.

EDIT: Never mind, Seems orders came all the way from CEO :o holy shit this is toxic and expensive.

If bullying includes breaking and entering the target's garage to install a surveillance device, I guess.

I think this is the level of obsession and craziness that makes people successful. I read quite a few biographies and it seems to me that a lot of famous or super successful people are very willing to do bad stuff if someone gets in their way. they want to win at all cost.