Video download link | md5sum 2b60450ff9ce377204714c6121d4e3a6
Sirius Adopts Contract-by-Surprise Policy
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: Further commentary on the way Sirius got all staff to ‘relocate’ to a newly-minted shell while another shell was about to be created in another continent to facilitate Bill Gates, who apparently promised to pay under a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) while Techrights wrote about his MIT/Jeffrey Epstein scandals (before this became a mainstream issue, causing the collapse of his marriage and unprecedented exodus in the Gates Foundation)

IN THE part just published (one of two; the latter part will also present some hard albeit suitably redacted evidence) I explained how the company compelled my wife and I to separately sign some “paperwork” (new contract) without even telling us in advance. We didn’t get to even examine what we were signing. That was around the time a person unknown to us registered a company in the US — a company whose first client would be the Gates Foundation. There was an NDA, so nothing was said to us. The name “Gates Foundation” was never put in writing, either (ever!), so it was merely a verbal mention by the CEO, insisting to me it would not jeopardise my freedom of expression. The video above explains why that was extremely suspicious, especially the timing. We also explained this before, even as memes.

Months ago the CEO accused me of saying things I never said. He told my wife that I had claimed Microsoft bribed Sirius managers, only much later to correct himself and actually show what I said (with context included). What I said was not false; it’s not convenient to the CEO. But he’s the one who got himself into this mess. He only told me about it after he had signed some mysterious contract and an NDA. How could he be so naive? Did he not know Microsofters were trying to silence me in all sorts of sinisters and nefarious ways?

The video above takes the example of the Microsoft layoffs (lots of cuts expected throughout this year), mentions the enigma around pensions, and then explains some of the “side stories”. Sirius operates like a cryptic, secretive cabal while maintaining that same old audacity to use the term “Open Source”.

Summary: Today we begin to tell the story about a company that went astray, routinely lied to the staff, and even forced staff to sign bogus contracts under false pretenses

THE last part showed that Sirius ‘Open Source’ had begun ‘hiding’ behind Carbon Accounting, impeding potential lawsuits against the company — a company that now lacks an address and hides the address of its managers as well (one is in fiscal ‘exile’). We have good reasons to suspect that the company has many more skeletons in its closet; it would help explain unpaid and overdue bills (suppliers).

We’ve decided to cover contract-signing and related E-mails in two sub-parts, seeing that the subject may take a while to cover/digest and would likely overwhelm readers if covered in one day. Hence, today we’ll give the gist of the story about the new ‘shell’ of Sirius Corporation, Sirius ‘Open Source’. The next part will present some pertinent, original evidence. The public and even former Sirius employees ought to see it. It might alarm some of them.

To be very clear, “joining” Sirius ‘Open Source’ wasn’t up for debate. It was compulsory because of a contract-signing ritual they hadn’t bothered telling us about! I kept asking questions about it, but I was not receiving honest answers. That was 4 years ago! Things have not improved since then. Despite what was said in E-mail invitations, we did not receive any substantial training and we have good reasons to believe it was a “cover” for something else. In the invitations they didn’t include the contract-signing in the agenda (we’ll show evidence in the next part) and didn’t include the new contract, so they had us sign it blindly on the spot with threats if we don’t do so. In other words, under peer and time pressure we were made to agree to a contract not presented to us properly; the correct protocol is, send in advance or give it some time for a lawyer to check before consent (“implied consent” under pressure does not qualify).

As noted at the top, it’s probably too late to take action over this because the company is more or less ‘hiding’. The company did not give us a copy of the contact afterwards, so we don’t have a copy of what we actually signed. It was ad hoc and dodgy, so basically it’s like in the movies where they say “just sign below the dotted line”.

We said we would go to the company’s office for training and self-appraisal but the real purpose was signing a new contract, not presented in advance. That contract was for a new company, not the company that existed since 1998 (and has listed only one member of staff for years already; he meanwhile created Sirius Open Source Inc. in the US).

It should be noted that all this happened a month before a shell was created in the US after Gates Foundation had paid the CEO. This “training and workshop” meeting was clearly a decoy as they never mentioned signing of a contract with a new company. We’ll show the correspondence tomorrow. Any attempt to not attend the meeting was quickly met with threats from management. Wait for the E-mails to be shown, as careful redaction will be needed. Yes, they almost blackmailed everyone into coming under the guise of “training from [redacted]” — something that barely even happened! In other words, the real purpose was not spoken about; the real intention was to get us to sign some papers without telling us the reason. I asked about it (face to face) and they declined to comment. I remember this clearly. This was rather dodgy, even back then, not just in retrospect. They would pull us in one at a time for a ‘chat’ and then ask us to sign papers. This isn’t just some sneaky means of legal manipulation, it’s very likely unlawful, but no legal advisor was present and no record of the meeting was made, just a signature. So we (re)joined a company worth 1 pound! Yes, not kidding! We all signed up to join a new company with no assets. Meanwhile the absent CEO (hiding in another country, probably dodging financial liabilities) was failing to tell us he and a partner registered a third company; they operate in the US, at least on paper sometimes, so some people need to double-task in office hours in the US (evening in the UK). This whole “double job” situation (more duties, as it’s like we’re working in two virtual companies) didn’t mean increase in pay but greater uncertainty. We were meant to be covering up deception (pretending to be a US company) in addition to the technical work getting worse and worse.

It should be noted that Rianne’s contract (typically weekend cover) does not include lunch break, which is strange and legally dubious. Moreover, if you expand and cover also the US, then amend the contract accordingly. But at this point the company was likely operating outside the rules already. Anybody who works as a Support Engineer and also performs helpdesk tasks (as nobody works in weekends in the US) is suddenly put on a dedicated line for Reception in the US. The job itself changed.

It’s probably too late to hold the company legally accountable, but if the “court of public opinion” counts for anything, then today and tomorrow we objectively tell what happened.

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When Companies Go Rogue
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: Sirius ‘Open Source’ and its deal with the devil didn’t salvage the company; instead the company ended up in a country where it has almost no staff and almost no clients

TODAY we explained how the company I left last month had ‘relocated’ to the US for no real purpose (other than serving Bill Gates temporarily). The UK side of the business was meanwhile offloaded onto a newly-minted shell in a residential area (initially), based on likely illegal contract-signing, which will be properly explained tomorrow.

This past week I contacted the pension provider. It says it’s unable to find any records (Aviva and Standard Life say the same; the latter took more than half an hour over the phone), leaving us in limbo. What on Earth is the company doing and why did it register with a phony address just days before the witch-hunts began? The mystery deepens and more uncomfortable facts are being unearthed.

Just two days before the witch-hunt began:

Summary: Sirius ‘Open Source’ is what people in the UK would likely consider/deem a “dodgy” company; today we revisit some aspects of that

IN many screenshots and PDFs shared here before (see the wiki for index) we’ve shown that Sirius changed its address many times before the witch-hunts. We also habitually present evidence that this company is too broke to be worth suing as it can take 12 months for a decision to be handed down; by then, the company might be bankrupt already, unable to pay. Apropos, regarding Microsoft layoffs, some anonymous employees say that the layoffs started last week and some people aren’t being paid severance. We’ll wait and see if more verifiable accounts can be found.

Over the past few years I occasionally downloaded documents (didn’t know years later we’d end up presenting and uploading them!) from what’s known here as “companies house” — basically a companies’ registry with PDFs hosted in AWS (millions of documents about British companies outsourced to another continent, which is ironic!). We’ve used those documents to show it’s getting worse over time as unbearable debt makes Sirius incapable of continued operations. We moreover hypothesise that the company is running away to dodge litigation and maybe dodge payments to the two ex-wives and 4 daughters, especially the young ones (early teens at this point in time).

It doesn’t look good, does it? It would be very difficult to sue or take this to court for dispute resolution. It’s not clear who to even sue because the company is registered at the address of Carbon Accounting and the UK ‘CEO’, whose own business is also registered at the address of an accountancy, is hiding his home address. He literally sends us letters without a return address. So it’s not only unclear where the company is actually based but also where its managers are based. You cannot simply sent legal letters to Carbon Accounting. It would make no sense. Carbon Accounting would turn the bailiff away.

Putting aside the fact that the company is registered with the accountants (Carbon Accounting) — a subject that I confronted the CEO about back in October (over the telephone!) — the address in the US may be an apartment and the addresses there seem inconsistent. The absent boss is also “sleek like an eel”, to use a term we mentioned the other week. Basically, the company now advertises itself as American (despite having at most one American staff member, a relatively recent recruit), it is playing legal tricks (and not following British law, even here in the UK), it tricked us all into signing of contracts we had not even seen (we’ll cover this later this month), and it keeps tricking people by storytelling, hiding the true story and the true state of the company.

This is especially upsetting because as far back as 2019 I insisted on getting some answers. But managers were mum; they were beyond evasive. The “cabal” had a sort of conspiracy of silence, as obviously the Office Manager and Support Manager who sat there in the contract-signing knew what was going on but did not tell the staff. I asked about the whole “US” thing and got no answers at all.

Lying to staff is about as bad as refusing to answer questions when asked. Something was being signed by the company with the Gates Foundation under an NDA.

In the next part we’ll explain how a “training and workshop” invitation turned out to be a trap, based on sheer deceit and obfuscation.

Video download link | md5sum 7d777a6535bcafb6984260cd8b1e6ec8
Sirius Treats Staff as Lacking Basic Rights
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: Sirius ‘Open Source’ failed to accomplish what its mission statement said, but it wasn’t the fault of Free software (or “Open Source”); it was the fault of management that does not understand Free software, rejects Free software, and cracks down on staff that advocates Software Freedom

THIS series has thus far shown that in 2019 things took a turn for the worse, perhaps coincidentally around the very same time the Gates Foundation secretly paid under an NDA. Within weeks at least 2 “managers” conspired to send not only me but also my wife to humiliating disciplinary action (we were fully acquitted by an external HR firm, but the bullying management was never held accountable).

Back then we realised (several different aggrieved employees) that had workers set up a union, even managers would be held accountable. But Sirius was already run by vicious people, who would never tolerate a union and would likely ‘hunt down’ any perceived union ‘leaders’.

So we ended up in a crooked, dishonest, lousy company, where technical staff collectively suffered the wrath/”big ego” of the “Big Shot” management (it’s always right and it knows everything; even when it’s wrong it will never admit it). The management disregarded Free software, failed to make payments to providers (we’ve shown examples), and basically rode the “brand” of company already (by that time) over 20 years old. Opportunists and charlatans.

The video above explains the last straw. It was all about me chatting with a close friend about what I was experiencing at the company, only after the company had failed to act as I expressed those same grievances internally. What I did wasn’t wrong. First of all, what I said was accurate; it’s all true. Second, nobody is mentioned. Third, it’s informal and management should not spy on staff outside work. Fourth, Rianne had nothing to do with the informal chats and wasn’t even aware of them. They’re not “publication” but mere act of fast, informal, typos-riddled chatting in a command line about very legitimate issues brought forth internally first (the culprits want to keep it secret because the truth is embarrassing).

If you work for ogres, don’t wait for them to start a witch-hunt. Quit proactively and explain to the world what happened. If you worry about what future employers might think, worry not. Clever employers with real integrity can value honesty and can identify innocent victims of utterly mad companies, governed by ruthless control freaks.

Summary: Today we take a closer look at what Sirius ‘Open Source’ management said about unions. We have plenty left to say about Sirius ‘Open Source’ (many posts already; about 200!), so we expect this series to go on until next month. We’ll show a lot more examples and evidence of scandals.

FOUR years ago I seriously considered leaving Sirius in light of the abuse suffered due to management being liars and manipulative bullies. The abuse started only weeks after the Gates Foundation had gotten involved, according to our records (we re-checked the dates recently). Earlier this winter or in autumn I had already made up my mind, having tentatively decided to do that around 12 months ago (leaving the company), but Rianne is another story. Rianne did not want to leave. My own motivations were explained in blog posts last year. Ethics were a key part of it, instrumental in the decision-making. The company ceased to be ethical.

Earlier this month we showed that a boss had picked on my wife using non-evidence and non-facts. It was a total disaster (we previously showed Rianne’s resignation letter and Rianne’s departure message at tuxmachines.org). A boss who hoped to prove that Rianne had done something wrong ended up doing many wrong things himself. For more information see Anatomy of a Corporate Witch-Hunt, especially parts like these, which reveal the full chain of correspondence. People can assess that for themselves. Readers can form their own opinions.

Here at Techrights we’ve been covering many union-related activities, especially at the EPO (since 2014, i.e. nearly a decade already). So we’ve spent more time studying this situation at Sirius, striving to accurately explain that “fluke”. The gist of the story is, on November 18^th a letter was sent to Rianne, probably before the company was getting legal advice and before Rianne herself could seek legal advice. Rianne insisted that she should be given time to speak to a lawyer.

Then, on November 28^th, an entirely different letter was sent. Ever so suddenly the tone of the letter and content changed because the boss and the sidekick apparently spoke to actual HR people for the first time. They checked the law and realised they had left something out. These gross omissions — and more generally the unprofessional management style — were consistent with what had been criticised for years already. This merely reinforced the legitimacy of the criticism.

“My lawyer says I can be accompanied not only by a trade union person,” Rianne wrote to the bully. “Sirius doesn’t have a union.”

The response came about a day later (after the revised letter):

Dear Rianne,

Thanks for your message.

As per our letter, you are entitled to be accompanied by either a work colleague or by a Trades Union representative.

Just to be clear, it is not Sirius’ responsibility to run or operate a Union. Trades Unions are independent bodies that operate separately to employers so that they can work for the benefit of their members.

It is also not Sirius’ responsibility to nominate a suitable Trades Union. It is a right under UK law for each employee to make an individual decision to choose whether or not they wish to join a Union. Sirius is an equal opportunity employer and makes no distinction at all between those who are members of a Trade Union and those who are not.

Kind regards,

There’s a lot wrong with that response and an upcoming video will elaborate some more. Rianne responded by stating that it was a false dichotomy and moreover the boss admitted that he would “tinker” with the witness prior to any meeting and be in a position to even deny the request. This means that any impartial or sympathetic (to Rianne) witness is deemed disqualified or subject to judgement (or warning) from the accuser. Cushioning a ‘kangaroo court’ with more kangaroos does not improve things — it merely gives the illusion of balance even where none exists. It’s like those notorious compositions in internal appeals at the EPO — compositions that were repeatedly deemed inadequate by the ILOAT.

Rianne never bothered with that stupid ‘kangaroo court’. She had already suffered enough for 4 years. She wasn’t planning to waste any more time in such a corrupt company. On Friday at 4PM a PDF was sent and on Saturday morning she formally resigned, having explained how she felt about the whole thing (see links in the relevant wiki for contents of the PDF).

Our current plan is to explain these matters and in the coming fortnight or so we’ll be publishing many more blog posts (they’re semi-drafted already) — with many more later, according to any further issues that arise (like the company trying to silence us). We cross-post, add to wiki etc. in order to better preserve access to all this information. We won’t allow that to be censored. The long report, followed by a PDF version, was already seen by the company a very long time ago. They knew what was coming. They didn’t know what to do. All the writing was done only after the bullying. In recent weeks we had to check with pension providers if the company was trying to ‘punish’ us through pensions. This is still under investigation (the pension provider opened a ticket for this and keeps updating us). This series has not been easy to publish as the company attempted to prevent access to our own E-mails! The company failed at it, so we still have access to evidence that vindicates us. We have some long articles on the way and maybe then some more blog posts (remaining notes, more embarrassing examples). We’ve meanwhile learned about the impact on the company. It can pretend all it wants that it doesn’t care, but it hurts really badly. That’s karma. Think before you shoot. Check the law before you leap to conclusions.

In the next part we’ll take a look at Carbon Accounting, which is where Sirius claims to be based. As we showed before, not only the company Sirius but also its CEO use their accountants to pretend to have an office. Sirius is a very fake company. It’s run by phonies who lie to the staff and to clients.

Video download link | md5sum 93ed07dde58f9f18674c2d75a0c2a72c
Management That Dislikes Geeks
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: Sirius ‘Open Source’ has devolved into a kakistocracy that lies to staff and gaslights technical workers. This is how companies perish.

TODAY’S COVERAGE of Sirius focused on how the company was treating valuable geeks, whom the company should thank and be grateful to even have. It can barely hire any more; those who come leave very quickly.

A deficit of technical knowledge has long doomed the company. A deficit of technical staff is even worse. Treating them like “crap” only makes things worse, leading to dissent, protest, and resignations. The video above covers the latest meme and article. Tomorrow we’ll talk about unions.