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Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

nytimes.com

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Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#91

Post by curious_fella1 »

dilyevsky wrote: post #79
cletus wrote: post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

Check out other reports - he clearly was enabled by lary for a long time by letting him get away with anything (self-dealing, employee abuse, borderline illegal stuff, etc). Not surprising he felt invincible after this. Just like with social clusterfuck Lary bears at least part of the blame here.

Do you have any sources? I haven't heard of that (although it would hardly surprise me), would be curious to read.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#92

Post by lordlaser9 »

kragen wrote: post #44

"Theft of trade secrets" is how Silicon Valley was built. Fairchild was "theft of trade secrets" from Shockley; Intel was "theft of trade secrets" from Fairchild. When Camenzind left Signetics and designed the 555 (under contract to Signetics), he was "using trade secrets" of Signetics; in today's legal environment, they could have just ordered him to stick around as an employee and work on a less risky project. MOST…

Lawyers and investors provide pathways to the market that allow engineers to build things that have actual value. The idea that engineers like you and I hold all of the tools and training to "create wealth" is too dismissive of those professions.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#93

Post by bifrost »

creato wrote: post #57
unscrupulous_sw wrote: post #39

> It is not uncommon for tech companies, which fiercely guard their intellectual property, to sue former employees or the firms they join after they leave. Is it really that common? I feel like most software engineers don't really take intellectual property all that seriously. Most will not think twice about backing up emails when leaving the company which might contain code diffs, design docs, etc. Friends from diff…

> I feel like most software engineers don't really take intellectual property all that seriously. Most will not think twice about backing up emails when leaving the company which might contain code diffs, design docs, etc. You can't be serious. I would never think of doing this, and I can't imagine who would.

You'd be a rare bird.

Most employees don't even bother to not pirate software, look at porn or whatever on their work laptops. Its somewhat hilarious.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#94

Post by 2sk21 »

TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #45

Most engineers I have met in Silicon Valley have a very high standard of personal ethics. For example, I have seen engineers risk their own careers to insist that their employers give back to open source projects when the employer is in violation of an open-source license's terms. But I've also seen a few, rare bad apples. There are some people who are borderline sociopathic, who don't think twice about theft, misdir…

Any thoughts about this article in Wired? https://www.wired.com/story/inside-google-three-years-misery...

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#95

Post by gist »

cletus wrote: post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

> Why someone would risk jail time doing something so clearly wrong (taking material trade secrets from an employer) for even more money

In particular 'for even more money'.

You are assuming that the motivating factor was money. People do all sorts of things when no money or financial gain is involved at all. Sometimes just to enjoy the pleasure of being aberrant. Take hacking as one example.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#96

Post by paul7986 »

cletus wrote: post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

But his former employer is no different as Google blatantly steals IP themselves and gets caught in the process! See this popular HN thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18566929

You want to see him strung up for ripping off a company whose does the same thing and he probably witnessed and was taught to do it there(directly or indirectly).

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#97

Post by kragen »

psychometry wrote: post #88
kragen wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments do not prioritize the freedom of their subjects; it's contrary to the incentives of everyone in the government. People win freedom by limiting the powers governments have over them.

[flagged]

The history of the US labor movement is not a history of American workers struggling hand in hand with the government against large employers like Peabody, GM, and Pullman. Rather, it is a history of American workers struggling against large employers who were backed by the government: police, imprisonment, and in some cases even military actions were used against strikers. The Post Office helped out Pullman by putting a mail parcel on each Pullman car so that striking would become a federal crime.

American workers gained workplace protections through unions and the threat of a communist revolution, which forced the government to relinquish the use of its coercive powers against strikers. Only later did (limited) workplace protections become law.

When I lived in the US, I thought like you do. Now I've seen the other side of the coin.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#98

Post by fstuff »

tempsy wrote: post #18

Interesting this is only against Anthony and not Uber this time. The stakes seem much smaller here. I would be surprised if he actually goes to prison for this. And max fine of $8 million or so is small for him

Hmm... If Anthony ends up taking a plea deal I wonder if there might be some details about Uber that might come up. I could totally see Anthony selling out Travis at least

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#99

Post by gitpusher »

tempsy wrote: post #85
cletus wrote: post #53

The level of greed, hubris and stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me. Levandowski was paid a bonus of $120 million while at Google, which is more money than any reasonable person will need for several lifetimes. This was actually a running joke at Google (while I was still there) to describe $120M as "1 Levadownski". Like Sundar one year was described as earning "only 1.7 Levadownskis" (he got paid $200M…

The max fine of $8m is tiny compared to what he made.

They are likely to claw back all of that money, if it's determined to be illegitimate as part of this case.

Re: Anthony Levandowski Charged with Theft of Trade Secrets

#100

Post by xkcd-sucks »

nwsm wrote: post #81
kragen wrote: post #44

"Theft of trade secrets" is how Silicon Valley was built. Fairchild was "theft of trade secrets" from Shockley; Intel was "theft of trade secrets" from Fairchild. When Camenzind left Signetics and designed the 555 (under contract to Signetics), he was "using trade secrets" of Signetics; in today's legal environment, they could have just ordered him to stick around as an employee and work on a less risky project. MOST…

>Engineers create wealth. Lawyers and investors just compete to privatize it. That's a really naive and pretentious opinion

Would it be wrong to claim that sales, investors, and lawyers now generate more value than engineers? The market seems to reflect this in salary allocation
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