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Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

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Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#161

Post by chki »

lexicality wrote: post #133
08-15 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber has the authority to say to its employees, "If you have anything at home you bring it in here Wait, what? In the opinion of the court, a company has the authority to demand that their employee hands over the contents of his personal computer? That doesn't sound right... please, somebody tell me the US judicial system isn't that retarded!

Why would they not have the authority to do that? If they want, your employer could demand that you wear pink underwear of a particular brand at all times when in the building and fire you if you did not.

That is a very american perspective though. In Germany you are not allowed to fire someone for these reasons (you might be able to dismiss him for no reason at all but the contract will not be over for quite a long time) So the authority of a company firing somebody over not handing over their laptop can be reasonably questioned.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#162

Post by dragonwriter »

08-15 wrote: post #119
bradleyjg wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not really the issue. The issue is whether the judge is going to impute Levandowski's failure to cooperate to Uber. From the transcript: MR. GONZÁLEZ (Uber's lawyer): So, Your Honor, first of all, we have searched and we are in the process of searching all of our computers for the sorts of information that you referred to. And if we find those documents, we intend to produce those. In addition, Your Honor, we…

> Uber has the authority to say to its employees, "If you have anything at home you bring it in here Wait, what? In the opinion of the court, a company has the authority to demand that their employee hands over the contents of his personal computer? That doesn't sound right... please, somebody tell me the US judicial system isn't that retarded!

> In the opinion of the court, a company has the authority to demand that their employee hands over the contents of his personal computer?

This is absolutely the case with at-will employment, and maybe even with an executive or officer directly involved in a case even without that (and an executive likely has a contract that puts them under something other than simple at-will terms.)

> That doesn't sound right... please, somebody tell me the US judicial system isn't that retarded!

If you don't like the law, that doesn't make the judiciary retarded for correctly explaining it.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#163

Post by CobrastanJorji »

kovacs wrote: post #38
MegaButts wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to invest in this idea. Food delivery is hot, and we need to disrupt the entertainment industry!

This is a straight up corny idea but I do think there's a kernel of something that could pop if the market heats up. OK, I'm in too!

Shucks, we could cob-ble together an amaizing proof-of-concept to bag a bunch of investors, although those folks can be salty, so they might need buttering up.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#164

Post by Consultant32452 »

throwaway729 wrote: post #85
dragonwriter wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But at some point, if you're truly innocent, I'm sure the best lawyers in the business could find a way for you to say "I'm not guilty" without hurting yourself. In a perfect world, being actually innocent would mean zero risk of conviction of a crime with a vigorous and dedicated defense, no matter what the prosecution did. We don't live in a perfect world, and it is, in fact, quite possible for a situation to exi…

I agree in principle and understand your point. But I have a hard time imagining a specific scenario where you're accused of IP theft and a lawyer can't find a way to say "my client is not guilty of IP theft" without compromising their client. At the very least, at some point, the client is going to have to enter that "not guilty" plea.

You can't selectively plea the fifth. You can't go into court, say things in your favor, and then clam up and plea the fifth when things get dicey for you. As soon as you start testifying in your defense you have waived the right and you'll be held in contempt if you take the fifth afterward. It would be unusual, but you can be imprisoned indefinitely without a trial/conviction until the judge decides to release you or you resolve the issue that put you in contempt.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#165

Post by milesrout »

stanleydrew wrote: post #155
milesrout wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen many cases thrown out of court for this.

That's great if you're the defendant...

It's good for everyone that the police can't skirt around the rules of discovery and present 'last minute evidence' that denies peoples' right to a free trial, yes.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#166

Post by abhgh »

faitswulff wrote: post #93
akiselev wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't recognize the name, this is the same judge that learned some Java for the Oracle v. Google case (and has an undergrad degree in mathematics). Every time I read his name I know it's going to be a fun ride and the lawyers will not be able to get away with anywhere near as much shenanigans as they usually do. Although his ruling regarding API copyright in the Google case was overturned, he has a real…

His middle name is Haskell :p - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Haskell_Alsup

I was about to comment this. You don't mess around with this highly functional a judge ;-)

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#168

Post by komali2 »

gameshot911 wrote: post #50
komali2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until the facts of the case come out, don't fall into the dangerous dark hole of fully buying into either story. The other day I booted my old galaxy s3 to put a new ROM on it and turn it into a dashcam. I found on it that google drive had offline backed-up some documents from a company I had worked at several years ago, and no longer did. Should I be sued for trade secret theft?

If you then went to work at a competitor and the competitor claimed that you were copying their trade secrets, then it would certainly be relevant.

How? A competitor is obligated by capitalism to do everything they can to level the competition. An accusation doesn't make fact.

This is such a classic justice tale I'm sure it's memorialized in fable. You get accused of witchcraft: well that's weird, you sure have a lot of herbs around, huh? (bay leaves and garlic) What's that giant kettle for? (making soup. With bay leaves and garlic) Etc. The mere accusation can turn normal things into another incriminating "fact" when that is just not the case.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#169

Post by dragonwriter »

chki wrote: post #161
lexicality wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they not have the authority to do that? If they want, your employer could demand that you wear pink underwear of a particular brand at all times when in the building and fire you if you did not.

That is a very american perspective though. In Germany you are not allowed to fire someone for these reasons (you might be able to dismiss him for no reason at all but the contract will not be over for quite a long time) So the authority of a company firing somebody over not handing over their laptop can be reasonably questioned.

> That is a very american perspective though.

Yes, and this case is between American parties, under American law, in the U.S. (of America) District Court for the Northern District of California.

Re: Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

#170

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

chki wrote: post #161
lexicality wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they not have the authority to do that? If they want, your employer could demand that you wear pink underwear of a particular brand at all times when in the building and fire you if you did not.

That is a very american perspective though. In Germany you are not allowed to fire someone for these reasons (you might be able to dismiss him for no reason at all but the contract will not be over for quite a long time) So the authority of a company firing somebody over not handing over their laptop can be reasonably questioned.

As long as it's not discrimination based, you can fire someone for any reason.

My boss could fire me for disliking the color of my T-Shirt this morning.

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