[user5994461]

These laws also protect you against the manager who didn't like you, the terrible boss, or simply the co-worker who had different business goals than you.

There characters are far more common than cases of thefts. Don't want them to have lasting implications on your career.

[rz2k]

Do I think people in tech should be subject to the type of popularity contests that domestic workers in Imperial Britain experienced? No.

My point was that there is enough caution around these sorts of conversations with references, that companies already avoid them, even though it might expose them to other dangers.

I think it was a potentially harmful suggestion, because if it were a more widespread practice, people's career prospects would increasingly change for non-meritocratic reasons, and therefore the productivity within the industry as a whole would suffer. However, it's simply easier to talk about the potential legal jeopardy it puts people in in the near term.