[SoftTalker]

Because sys admins are going to risk their jobs and expose themselves to possible civil claims for damages or even criminal charges by intentionally circumventing company policy for their friends? A few might, I guess. I wouldn't , nor would any that I know.

A better 5. is probably lobby your lawmakers for stronger workplace privacy laws.

[freedomben]

This has been my experience. Excepting maybe small startups, gone are the days also where a sysadmin could do something and nobody would know. These days things are heavily logged and audited, usually by software. With IaC and peer review, there's no way one person could do something without numerous others knowing.