Since when is a crime measured in megabytes?
The degree of harm caused is often a factor in measuring a crime, especially when it comes to sentencing. As Garry points out, 8 years for this is crazy.
Size != Functionality
Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
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Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Garry, yes curation is important, in fact, that's why HN exists, to curate and comment primary sources. If the article has already been submitted then why try to resubmit it after copying and pasting the content into another URL? The best way to do this on HN is to take the stance of the opposition and write an inflammatory headline, "I support (unpopular position) X, because (popular position) Y is considered harmfu…
I didn't submit this particular item, nor did I upvote it. I wrote it on my personal blog because I thought it was interesting. Also that sort of title is editorializing, and that's not encouraged.
My apologies garry, I didn't look at the OP. Personal blogs are personal. ;-)
I completely misunderstood your initial comment.
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#33I love to stick it to Goldman as much as anyone else here, but I think the story is probably more nuanced than "Goldman jails innocent programmer for leaving the firm". I know that I have on occasion kept copies of source code for projects that I'm proud of (and there was often some open source code involved; that changes nothing). Not to give it to someone else, but because I was proud of the work. That is probably…
Proving that the code was used to aid a company is not a good measure of the seriousness of of the crime. What if you take the code and store it on a device with really low security? You don't share it, but you allow "hackers" to easily take it, so you are in fact aiding competing companies.
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#34It could have as easily been phrased (and likely would by a prosecutor) as "a cache of source code longer than the King James version of the bible." The defence could respond "only about three millionths of the amount of data in a human cell's nucleus." "More than seventy times the amount of software needed to land on the moon!". The amount is irrelevant. He released proprietary source code which is an offence under…
you'd have a point, except for the part where an appeals court unanimously acquitted him
I said that breaking a law has fairly predictable results. Among them the possibility of acquittal on appeal. In fact, if you're doing it for some sort of protest reason, this might actually be the goal (building case law against an unfair/unconstitutional law or interpretation).
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#35It could have as easily been phrased (and likely would by a prosecutor) as "a cache of source code longer than the King James version of the bible." The defence could respond "only about three millionths of the amount of data in a human cell's nucleus." "More than seventy times the amount of software needed to land on the moon!". The amount is irrelevant. He released proprietary source code which is an offence under…
a) I didn't read anything that suggested he was protesting the law. Perhaps you could point out that part of the story. b) He didn't release proprietary source code. Or did I miss that part?
(a)I was offering him the benefit of the doubt. You're correct. Other possibilities include that he's simply a criminal or merely dumb. (b) You did. Reread the third line of the post.
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#36Was he tried by a jury of software engineers?
The notion that once be tried by a jury of one's peers is practically meaningless for any 'crime' involving scientific knowledge or any specialized competence.
If you read the original Vanity Fair piece, Lewis assembles a true 'jury' of his peers - that's the best part of the piece.
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#37Hmmm. Ok so this guy uploaded both OS and Goldman-authored code - as stated in the article. And uploading pure OS code wouldn't make sense anyway as it would be available anywhere. And did so immediately prior to taking a principle role at a competitor start up - no wonder they checked. He knew he was doing something wrong - as stated in the article - and his reason for deleting his bash history makes no sense (surely bash doesn't cache passwords) - indicating he was trying to cover his tracks.
They're gonna want to protect their IP - particularly when it could give a competitor a huge advantage. It's not surprising they went after him.
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
a) I didn't read anything that suggested he was protesting the law. Perhaps you could point out that part of the story. b) He didn't release proprietary source code. Or did I miss that part?
(a)I was offering him the benefit of the doubt. You're correct. Other possibilities include that he's simply a criminal or merely dumb. (b) You did. Reread the third line of the post.
Are those really the only possibilities?
Are you perhaps not really thinking very deeply about his possible motives?
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
(a)I was offering him the benefit of the doubt. You're correct. Other possibilities include that he's simply a criminal or merely dumb. (b) You did. Reread the third line of the post.
Are those really the only possibilities? Are you perhaps not really thinking very deeply about his possible motives?
"Other possibilities include"
Re: Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stuxnet is apparently half a megabyte.
Do you think it's plausible that 8 MB of source code, consisting of modified open-source libraries, represented a theft of critical Goldman Sachs secrets?
Without knowing how much of that 8Mb was proprietary and what the nature of the proprietary code is it's impossible to say. It could be massive over kill, it could be lenient.