Live data from Hacker News

Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

techcrunch.com

131–140 of 450 posts

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#131
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's about dominance and winning. It isn't about the reward. It's about the game.

On the money! and the game is like being in the matrix...you’re always trying to bend the spoon even though reality tell you otherwise...in the end, you start believing the spoon is bent, when it’s not

In reality, the overwhelming majority of fraud and theft never gets prosecuted, and organised crime is an actual thing.

We even know governments run drug cartels to fund black-ops, and sell stolen weapons to this weeks chosen side.

I don’t have a problem with what Levandowski did. It’s just that stealing from one mega corp to give to a another bunch of overly wealthy and getting caught is sloppy.

And makes for a pretty boring documentary or film adaptation.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun historical fact, it's from this aphorism that the proverb "measure twice cut once" comes from, because confusion can be supplanted by repetition.

My rule is "measure three times, then cut the wrong side off."

Yep, done that all too many times.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stealing, not leaking. It’s not like he was a whistleblower or something. Should he go to jail? Idk. But if stealing food from a grocery store can put you in jail, then a ten/hundred millionaire stealing IP should as well.

Should he go to jail? Idk. But stealing food from a grocery store isn't perfectly analogous to stealing IP. Bringing his knowledge to uber doesn't mean google can't use it. The same is true for digital piracy. Maybe it should be illegal, but it's not exactly the same as stealing an object.

>Bringing his knowledge to uber doesn't mean google can't use it

There were hundreds of engineers who worked on the technology that Levandowski stole. Let's not entertain this narrative that it's his work and talent alone.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#134
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump's former lawyer-fixer Michael Cohen: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/politics/michael-cohen-will-b...

Cohen is mostly notable not because he was initially eligible for the general COVID-19 release to home confinement that the DOJ has set up, but because DOJ tried to unconstitutionally craft his conditions of release in a way to squelch his first amendment rights when they found out he was planning on releasing a book that would be embarrassing to the President.

I think GP was mixing it up with the President's chief Campaign Manager, Paul Manafort, who was serving his 7.5 year sentence in prison and moved to home confinement for covid 19.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#135
post #48
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rich black people don't have the same privileged to buy justice as rich white people? That's not true. From basketball players to music icons like Michael Jackson the rich can buy a certain level of justice. If you think the white rich still have it easier. I think we are focusing on the wrong thing. The 1% or .1% percentages have it better than everybody else regardless of color.

I think rich any-people shouldn't get a free-ride buuut... The comment you're responding to focused on privilege being the primary differentiator, but you focused in on "largely not-rich, not-white general prison population", please read comments a bit closer.

I know it wasn't the main point but using false race stereotypes need to get called out regardless.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#136
post #130

It just proves that if you want to do a crime, do the white collar crime. White gloves treatment will ensue, if you get caught.

Don't steal $5,000 from the liqor store, that will get you arrested at gunpoint and you'll spend many years in prison. Instead steal $50,000,000 and you'll probably still be rich once you pay the fines and complete the community service or home arrest.

Depending on the circumstances and state, unarmed robbery could earn you less jail time than Levandowski.

Armed robber on the other hand may carry a minimum 5 year sentence.

This seems just fine to me. The amount of money between the $5k liquor store and Levandowski's theft is almost irrelevant: the armed robbery comes with significant risk of violent loss of life, which rightfully weighs much heavier in the criminal justice system than some other crimes.

Now if you want to talk about ridiculous sentencing minimums for non-violent crimes like possession of small amounts of illegal drugs, I'm all ears.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People in the security industry have told me that this sort of thing often comes down to ego and self-importance. In Intelligence, people have been caught selling state secrets for 10-20k a pop. The kind of secrets that can land you decades in jail. It makes no sense from a monetary standpoint.

It's likely Levandowski has narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), as is evident by his founding The Way of The Future , which is his own church to worship artificial intelligence.

Which I have to believe is a joke based on the end of "The Aviator"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Pbx9mvWPY

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stealing, not leaking. It’s not like he was a whistleblower or something. Should he go to jail? Idk. But if stealing food from a grocery store can put you in jail, then a ten/hundred millionaire stealing IP should as well.

Should he go to jail? Idk. But stealing food from a grocery store isn't perfectly analogous to stealing IP. Bringing his knowledge to uber doesn't mean google can't use it. The same is true for digital piracy. Maybe it should be illegal, but it's not exactly the same as stealing an object.

> But stealing food from a grocery store isn't perfectly analogous to stealing IP.

IP violations are usually more like trespass than theft, but trespass is a crime you can go to jail for, too.

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#139
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rich black people don't have the same privileged to buy justice as rich white people? That's not true. From basketball players to music icons like Michael Jackson the rich can buy a certain level of justice. If you think the white rich still have it easier. I think we are focusing on the wrong thing. The 1% or .1% percentages have it better than everybody else regardless of color.

> Rich black people don't have the same privileged to buy justice as rich white people? > > That's not true. Kinda funny how you made up a statement that they didn't say and then started arguing against it. Congratulations, you fought yourself and won.

It was in response to the parent post. Below is a direct quote.

"A courtesy not afforded to the largely not-rich, not-white general prison population. "

Re: Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison as new lawsuit against Uber filed

#140
An honest and naive question from someone outside industry: where is the line between stealing trade secrets and taking your experience and expertise developed at another company to a new company. Where does a lesson learned during project X become taking the know-how of the company which it developed during project X?

Because obviously the next company pays you so much because they see in your CV that you gained experience at the other company. This also works outside tech and I'm genuinely confused how this works for people bouncing across FAANG, say. How do they not take best practices across companies? What is your personal expertise and what is company IP? Does it depend on the wording of the contract? Is it ambiguous and murky and up to the court and everyone just hopes they won't get in trouble?

Post reply on HN