Autonomy always seemed to sail pretty closed to the wind. Around 2000 they came to me to see if I would buy their semantic doc indexing thing for a dotcom I was IT director of. I said it was quite expensive and we didn't need it. They then came back with a proposal where we would buy some expensive HP SAN disk drives (that we also didn't need), they would throw the text index thing in "for free" and they claimed it would be worth our while because we would be able to write off the depreciation on the shitty disk drives against tax. I said it seemed really sketchy and I didn't want the maintenance burden of an additional SAN solution to look after.
Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
191–200 of 208 posts
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, and the entire point of this type of fraud is to deceive this exact process. The fraudster knows what due diligence is going to be performed.
Presumably the folks regularly involved in the closing of 11 figure deals are capable of sniffing out deception. Though maybe the HP board cheaped out and hired the B team instead?
Seems like US companies only ever use the B team these days.
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
> channel stuffing I'm slightly confused, and forgive my ignorance: how do you channel stuff software ? I mean, granted this is 2009 - 2011, but even back then were Autonomy really selling software as a physically packaged good, or is there some way that virtual goods can be channel stuffed? (E.g., selling a shedload of license keys to resellers, many of which remain unsold to end users? Would that be something that…
I am a bit familiar with Autonomy, but I don’t know the exact specifics. They were in the software license business, so if I were to speculate, they would get a new channel partner and then forward them 250 server licenses, book the full revenue during that quarter, and then the partner has to sell all the licenses. But that could possibly take years. Repeat with a handful of fresh partners and you could book a signi…
Which accounting measure looks at actually receivables rather than booked revenue? Surely that would have uncovered this practice?
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re talking about Anne Sacoolas. There’s more to it: she’s a spook, and she fled on board of US military plane, lying about having diplomatic immunity.
She had diplomatic immunity. There is a lot of bad reporting in that case. The US always puts it diplomats back on a plane ASAP after that sort of incident. My buddy in the foreign service ran someone over while on a tour and they did exactly the same thing. Back on the next flight out. It sounds callous, but the person would otherwise become a scapegoat for the US.
There's pretty good evidence that she didn't have diplomatic immunity at the time of the incident:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/10/the-foreign-...
(And say what you like about Craig Murray, he was an ex-diplomat so should understand the rules around immunity).
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
There have been cases of US citizens literally shooting and killing Mexican children over the border, and extradition was refused. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernandez_v._Mesa
That is because the shooter was a border patrol agent and they get qualified immunity.
How does that makes it better?
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re right of course. But as always. The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.
Oh yes, those poor weak British. History has been so unkind to them, torturing them so in their forever weakness. If only they were, just once, in a great position of power.
My point was more general. The US exercises their power and that is not surprising: it is a fact of life.
Case in point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr...
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a maximalist view of sovereignty that happens to be common in very few countries on the planet, namely the ones not afraid to use violence against anyone stating the opposite: the US, China, Russia, and a handful of rogue states.
> This is a maximalist view of sovereignty that happens to be common in very few countries on the planet Its actually obligatory under treaties of near universal acceptance; though of course nations are free (and some do) choose not to exercise jurisdiction beyond their borders outside of those areas where treaty requires it. Though I think the more common choice is to apply jurisdiction both to citizens/nationals ir…
> Its actually obligatory under treaties of near universal acceptance;
Of course - such treaties, in order to be ratified by as many countries as possible, go for the minimum common denominator, which must be able to accomodate the views of such maximalists too.
Also, to be fair, the ranks of these maximalists tends to change with the fortunes of military power. France and UK, for example, used to be much more aggressive in claiming entitlements.
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
She had diplomatic immunity. There is a lot of bad reporting in that case. The US always puts it diplomats back on a plane ASAP after that sort of incident. My buddy in the foreign service ran someone over while on a tour and they did exactly the same thing. Back on the next flight out. It sounds callous, but the person would otherwise become a scapegoat for the US.
There's pretty good evidence that she didn't have diplomatic immunity at the time of the incident: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/10/the-foreign-... (And say what you like about Craig Murray, he was an ex-diplomat so should understand the rules around immunity).
Both the State Department and the UK High Court agreed she did.
The US and UK even changed the rule to remove diplomatic immunity from spouses of people at that base after the incident (but not retroactively), which proves she did have it at the time.
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
She had diplomatic immunity. There is a lot of bad reporting in that case. The US always puts it diplomats back on a plane ASAP after that sort of incident. My buddy in the foreign service ran someone over while on a tour and they did exactly the same thing. Back on the next flight out. It sounds callous, but the person would otherwise become a scapegoat for the US.
Indeed, the US tends to protect its criminals from justice, as long as they work for the government. It’s not callous, though, it’s just bullying. The “scapegoat” argument could make sense in a few countries without proper judicial system, but obviously doesn’t make sense with European countries.
The "scapegoat" argument makes sense here too. Mrs. Sacoolas was seen as a personification of Trump's foreign policy. People were calling for her head, for an crime that generally doesn't even receive jail time (in the UK or USA).
People don't normally get incensed over non-DUI car accidents.
People were out for blood because her husband and allegedly she worked for US intelligence agencies. If she was just a tourist who forgot which side of the road she was supposed to drive on the case would just be in the local papers.
You can see it in this thread on hacker news. THEY WERE SPOOKS! STRING EM UP. Uh, no, they were working on a joint intelligence mission with the UK. The vast majority of intelligence workers are analysts and support staff not little green men.
Re: Autonomy founder Mike Lynch can be extradited to US
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Prisons are NOT meant to take away your human rights > The main point of prisons is to temporary take away your freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak
Inalienable human rights and the rights of a citizen are distinctly different things.
Ok, I'll remember from now on that a comfortable temperature is an "inalienable right" whereas just general freedom is simply a "right of a citizen" or something.
The hoops people are jumping through to not acknowledge that prison is an explicit, intended violation of human rights are wild.