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Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

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Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#221

Post by snarf »

ehsankia wrote: post #144
ABCLAW wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds worse when you consider the potential for treble damages due to having knowledge of the infringement. Uber's negotiating position is doubly weakened by the fact that they are dealing with a reputation crisis at the same time as this claim has been brought forward. If Google has the information they claim they do, they have persuasive arguments to anchor their damages calculations on the basis of Otto's acqu…

I don't think I've ever seen Google go in the offensive like this, so this must be pretty serious.

I think Alphabet probably views Waymo as their next big thing, and Waymo appears to have a sizable lead over everyone else in the self driving space which they want to protect. Remember, Alphabet is a major investor in Uber through Google Ventures, and their stake is likely worth billions. They wouldn't pursue this unless Waymo was of critical importance to them.

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#223

Post by GooglyMoogly »

bitL wrote: post #112

This is going to be interesting to watch. Alphabet just: - went nuclear on Uber/Otto - revealed what they track internally to all their employees

When your company stores very private info on billions of people, and is actively attacked (sometimes successfully) by the top intelligence agencies of the world[1][2], you have to be extremely careful, and monitor everything.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aurora

[2] https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/tech-companies-s...

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#224

Post by ocdtrekkie »

Harimwakairi wrote: post #200
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't need to be about "secrecy", it's about "security". Even when you ignore the employee trust issue, and assume everyone at your company would never betray you, "least privilege" is still not just best practice for security, it's common sense. People should not be able to access data they don't need. If they need it, you can grant it. But the assumption should be that someone who doesn't use the design server…

Having access to code and data you don't technically "need" is often how people learn new skills and advance their careers without leaving the company. It's an important part of the culture.

Why is "the culture" always used in Silicon Valley to justify incredibly bad decisions?

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#225

Post by isubkhankulov »

itchyouch wrote: post #204
mevile wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems criminal. I remember an engineer from goldman sachs went to prison for doing something similar.

Based on the story from Flash Boys, that Goldman engineer was taking something like a couple of megs worth of his own work that was related to various open source projects. But he became the poster boy for stealing trade secrets and an example to be made of. His mistake was that he used the company internet connection to upload said source files to something like his personal github or dropbox of the sort, so there w…

> Most people would've gotten their personal-ish data off a corporate laptop with a usb key/harddrive which they probably wouldn't have triggered any alarms.

Most top banks use Citrix technology (or similar virtual desktops) to stream workstations for employees accessing both locally and remotely, so the only way you can get data out is by using your phone to take photos.

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#226

Post by marmshallow »

danielcampos93 wrote: post #103
w00tw00tw00t wrote: post #69

I had an interview there where the manager asked me to leave my laptop behind and go for a walk. I was hesitant after hearing stories of Uber conducting electronic espionage against its competitors. They could easily bypass Macbook security with a USB device (I had heard of that on HN too) so I was very nervous to leave my laptop behind and noted its exact orientation and position on the table. Sure enough when I ret…

im just gonna say the fact that they told you to go for a walk and leave your laptop is pretty creepy.

Sounds more normal than asking you to take your laptop on a walk.

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#227

Post by Animats »

startupdiscuss wrote: post #70
tajen wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does Google build such forsenics? Do they have spyware monitoring all their company laptops?

This was the noteworthy part for me as well. They had to know that he: 1. modified the software on his laptop 2. logged into an area he should not have had access to (this is probably standard) 3. attached an external drive (possible, but standard?) 4. and they got all this info after he deleted the drive, which means they either went in and found remaining data on the drive or else they captured the info in real tim…

Since he was working on self-driving cars at Google, he probably was authorized access to the software and hardware involved.

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#228

Post by Animats »

golfer wrote: post #155

Does anyone else remember this New Yorker profile [1] of Anthony Levandowski and self driving cars? Way back from 2013, when this tech was still novel. Google let Levandowski run the show for this piece -- his name is mentioned 57 times in the article. Goes to show how important and trusted he was in Google's universe. [1] http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/25/auto-correct

Sure. I met him when he was still a student at UC Berkeley. He was the one who built the self-driving, self-balancing motorcycle for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. It didn't navigate that well or get all that far, but it was really cool.

Re: Alphabet's Waymo Alleges Uber Stole Self-Driving Secrets

#229

Post by [deleted] »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #224
Harimwakairi wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having access to code and data you don't technically "need" is often how people learn new skills and advance their careers without leaving the company. It's an important part of the culture.

Why is "the culture" always used in Silicon Valley to justify incredibly bad decisions?

[deleted]
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