| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Would you work on material which you suspect may be used for illegal activities? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would you work on material which you suspect may be used for illegal activities?".
View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:21
Spanish to English
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It depends on the "illegality" in question. Sometimes "the law is an ass" (Dickens).
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I have never been in that situation, so I can’t say for sure what my reaction would be. Anyway, I don’t see how the kind of documents I usually translate could be used for illegal activities…
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Re: Illegal activities | May 15, 2022 |
Teresa Borges wrote:
Anyway, I don’t see how the kind of documents I usually translate could be used for illegal activities…
Well, if your government bans bitcoin, translating cryptocurrency contents may be considered as an illegal activity. If there's a law prohibiting same-sex marriage in your country, translating contents that promote homosexuality may get you in prison. And so on, and so forth.
@Poll asker
Define illegal activities.
[Edited at 2022-05-15 09:57 GMT]
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| Would you work on material which you suspect may be used for illegal activities? | May 15, 2022 |
ProZ.com Staff wrote: This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would you work on material which you suspect may be used for illegal activities?". View the poll results »
No, never. Without realizing immediately, once I was asked for a translation for a Swiss weapon manufacturer, and as soon as I realized what it was about, I refused.
Oh, by the way, for me, weapons for warfare are illegal stuff.
| | | | Sanjin Grandić 
Croatia
Local time: 12:21
Member (2020)
French to Croatian
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No way. Even though I translated a number of contracts in which one wonders if public tenders are really public or just a "pro forma" with a predetermined company which will "win" to sign a contrac for large infrastructural projects....
Can t go into details though...
| | | | | Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Empty post. |
if a governmental agency will ask me to accept such material for translation, why not? a good job contract with such agency will certainly extinguish any suspicion
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Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Careful now... | May 15, 2022 |
...governments have a nasty habit of ruining the life of an honest, hard-working man to serve as their scapegoat.
Gennady Lapardin wrote:
if a governmental agency will ask me to accept such material for translation, why not? a good job contract with such agency will certainly extinguish any suspicion
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I have refused translation jobs that required a sworn translator because they were shady.
Agencies don't give a sh*t. They'll take on anything. But when someone wants documents translated into PT-BR, stuff that obviously requires a sworn translator, I draw the line at children's passports and birth certificates. I don't know why someone would want their own documents translated "unofficially", but that is their business. A child's most basic documents, however, nope. That raises too... See more I have refused translation jobs that required a sworn translator because they were shady.
Agencies don't give a sh*t. They'll take on anything. But when someone wants documents translated into PT-BR, stuff that obviously requires a sworn translator, I draw the line at children's passports and birth certificates. I don't know why someone would want their own documents translated "unofficially", but that is their business. A child's most basic documents, however, nope. That raises too many red flags. Either that family was being charged for the wrong service, or there is something shady going on.
I also refuse jobs where I am told the names on the papers must "be made to match" the names on the passports. No can do. I don't want my name on that.
[Edited at 2022-05-15 15:24 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-05-15 15:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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As a matter of fact, I was offered a full-time job as a writer last week by a well-known firm out west (US), for which I would have probably been called on to do translation work from time to time. They buried one of the services they offer at the very bottom of their homepage, which I only had access to at a later time, a service that I don't agree with at all, because it quite obviously enables a certain group of lawbreakers to continue on with their illegal activities. So I said "no thanks", ... See more As a matter of fact, I was offered a full-time job as a writer last week by a well-known firm out west (US), for which I would have probably been called on to do translation work from time to time. They buried one of the services they offer at the very bottom of their homepage, which I only had access to at a later time, a service that I don't agree with at all, because it quite obviously enables a certain group of lawbreakers to continue on with their illegal activities. So I said "no thanks", and used another, and as it turns out, very valid excuse related to the needs of a family member, to turn them down.
[Edited at 2022-05-15 21:46 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-05-15 21:48 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-05-15 21:51 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | nothing against my beliefs | May 15, 2022 |
I never accept any assignment that has to do be taking the lives away of unborn child.
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| No, with exceptions | May 16, 2022 |
While I have no problem translating political material that I don't agree with, I would draw the line if I thought my work would be used to support a serious illegal activity, such as funneling guns to lawless users (I once turned down a job on that subject) or human trafficking. That said, my country is in the process of enacting some ridiculous laws that I don't agree with. In such cases, I would not hesitate to offer my services.
| | | | | Illegal where? | May 16, 2022 |
neilmac wrote:
It depends on the "illegality" in question. Sometimes "the law is an ass" (Dickens).
As phrased, the question is so unspecific ("suspect", "may be") that it cannot be answered sensibly.
An activity that's illegal in one place at one time may be perfectly legal somewhere else, earlier or later. That's leaving aside the question of unjust or controversial laws.
I might well refuse a job on ethical grounds, but I can think of circumstances where I would happily perform a translation that I knew was very likely to be used in a way that might contravene some law or other, somewhere in the world.
For example, had I been working as a translator in Greece during the military dictatorship (1967-74), I would not have hesitated to translate press releases from the protesters occupying Athens Polytechnic.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 12:21
French to English
If an environmentalist group wanted me to translate stuff about how their demonstrations are illegal (like, the UK has just passed a bill that penalises practically any form of protest that inconveniences anyone at all) I certainly would help out, pro bono to boot.
There are plenty of laws that are stupid, like a by-law that Parisian women need a permit to wear trousers, which means all those fashion translations I've done skirt around illegality.
Replace "illegal" with "unethical"... See more If an environmentalist group wanted me to translate stuff about how their demonstrations are illegal (like, the UK has just passed a bill that penalises practically any form of protest that inconveniences anyone at all) I certainly would help out, pro bono to boot.
There are plenty of laws that are stupid, like a by-law that Parisian women need a permit to wear trousers, which means all those fashion translations I've done skirt around illegality.
Replace "illegal" with "unethical" and you get a firm no from me. But I get to define what's ethical, thank you.
(Edited because the pun was too good to waste)
[Edited at 2022-05-16 13:48 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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