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Documents Unsealed in Microsoft/Caldera Case
Mirele writes "The Salt Lake Tribune reports in an article today that a lot of formerly secret documents that Microsoft had submitted in the now-settled Caldera case have been unsealed. These documents include a deposition by a former Microsoftie that indicated she had destroyed e-mail correspondence when urged to do so by her boss. They also show Microsoft's inclination to overdesignate documents as secret. The judge unsealed all but about 30 documents. "
I think the answer to that may be how and why it's being done. If that webserver and laptop has my CC numbers, and other sorts of personal info on it that I really didn't want anyone abusive to have, I'd be more then happy when they took it away from the person. Even if wasn't my info at all, but maybe a collection of other people's info.
I guess the answer could be so wartered down to this: If what is in those files shows the company/person is taking part in illegal activities then it should be 'okay'...
But then, in the fun of humanity, that brings up another question. Will the law enforcement actually stick to that? Will they just say "Oh, well, we thought there might be something on there damaging, guess we were wrong, sorry about the HD, you'll never see it again."
On the other hand, I'm not too sure if I would want the officals to have (or not have) the ability to take data on probable cause. That's just too sticky of a situation, and maybe can only be figured out on a per-situation basis.
I alwayd find posts like these funny. Being someone who likes MS (no, I don't agree with everything they've done, but I also don't think they are evil and the spawn of satan) and someone who has tried Linux and thinks it could be good given time to mature and if companies port software to it, I guess I am an MS FUD spreader. People seem to think the point of
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
Reichel had a personal relationship with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
If that's not disturbing, I don't know what is.
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auntfloyd
hopefully this will shed a little light on the state of affairs . . .
Other confidential evidence includes precicely what the woman in the photo was doing with the insect, and why "Customer Base" was etched on one wing.
It is, however, completely untrue that Microsoft was intending to file 2.5 solar masses of blank paper as confidential, which would have sucked the Caldera legal team into an artificial black hole. That was intended for the DOJ team.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
But the question remains, what historical archive is there out there? Where can I find MS and NS press releases from 1996? Where does one go to find company histories?
What's interesting is, most of the time, the companies are the ones maintaining there own historical archive. Doesn't this make them their own historian? Wouldn't companies be free to exploit revisionist practices on their own actions? (perhaps a more informed (/.er) can point to me a resource I'm not aware of).
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Bob, I'm a systems administrator in Siliicon Valley. I agree that we shouldn't punish someone because they are too successful. But success always comes at a price. The average end user consumer gets a great deal! They get a one- stop shop for everything "software" on their computer. Heck, Microsoft even innovates some hardware for PC's too! Yes, the prevalance, and pervasiveness of comuters is overtaking our society at a mind boggling rate. I would even go so far as to say the growth has accelerated beyond anyone's control! The problem is not really about how succesful Microsoft has been. It's more of an issue of who they had to hurt to get there. I am a 10 year veteran of the computer industry. I've watched Microsoft completely crush every competing technology out there, through whatever means necessary. As a compuuter industry professional, I am sorely disappointed at where we are at today. I honestly feel that Microsoft's dominance, if left to it's own devices, is driving us into a "technological dark ages" There are a great many innovative technologies that would have vastly benefitted the computer industryindustry. ALL of them have been sacrificed for the sake of backwards compatibility with old hardware and software. And it's entirely because Microsoft has painted us into this virtual corner with their totally proprietary operating system, and applications that ONLY work on their all too shortsighted proprietary operating system. I happen to LIKE Microsoft office. Microsoft just won't make it for my platform (UNIX). But they probably cannot ever port it to UNIX because it relies on facets of their closed source proprietarty OS that it requires to operate. They use this "integrated" approach to lock people into using an OS that they control, rather than something that the community controls through standards, and concensus. Imagine how boring it would be if GM were the ONLY company who could make the roads you drive, and you could only use a GM car. You could buy a Chrysler, but it wouldn't fit on the road, or the tires wouldn't grip the pavement. So, you could only drive it in the confines of your home or business. I genuinely fear the outcome! Microsoft's sales, and marketing over the past decade has been nothing short of a social engineering masterpiece! Therere are better products, and there always have been. If Microsoft can't buy them, they aggressively crush them with legalities and/or marketing dollars. The trend is disturbing! As en employee of one of Microsoft's competitors, I've watched our corporate family be infiltrated by people loyal to Microsoft products, and have successfully gotten them installed. The social, and political ramifications are very heartbreaking. I'm growing tired of watching my workplacebe torn apart by political battles between corporate IT people who buy what they see on TV the night before, and the engineers I support, who all know there is a better way, but have this Microsoft crap rammed down their throat unvoluntarily. Eventually, the engineers quit, eroding the viability of our once thriving Microsoft competitor. (Divide and conquor works!) The trend is not unlike the inquisition, in a way... the digital dark ages are upon us, and Microsoft's brainwashed everyone into thinking they are the OS/application/internet religion of choice. I, for one, believe wholeheartedly in the division of church and state. Long live Open Source Software! Bryan S. Manternach UNIX Systems Administrator Silicon Valley, CA, USA.
All of these companies have performed action that worked well in the file and forget media of the past. The actions of any of these companies would be forgotten a year from now if they were reported on TV, radio, newspapers, or even Time.
But that doesn't happen anymore. Now the articles tend to remain. Older article's can be stored in search engines, links to them persist. In the case of eToys, the personal "boycott eToys" web pages will probably be around for awhile.
I predict that the days companies can afford to overreact are limited. These actions by Microsoft will be remembered. Doubleclick's "please pull your article" blunder only increases the unfavorable press about them. DeCSS is now easier to find than Linux installation instructions.
The internet is different from conventional media in three ways: the target audience is larger, the speed of communication is faster, and the memory is more persistant.
Companies that want to survive in the long term will have to take this into account in the future. At $16 1/16 per share (down from $65, IPO @ $20), the lesson of eToys will need to be learned by everyone else. I expect to see "ads not provided by DoubleClick" messages under adspaces soon, especially with links pointed to news articles or /. stories. (not a bad idea for Andover)
And that kind of damage can last a long time.
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No Zen is good zen
It should be obvious why anyone overseals documents--say you don't want 100 documents from being released. Rather than seal those 100--and thus making obvious which ones *you* consider the most damaging, seal 2000. If you lose the case, and all the documents need to be unsealed, you haven't told the press or your enemies which 100 to look into for damaging information. You prevent leakage of information by hiding content in plain sight.
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
So the question, again, becomes this: when does privacy end and obstruction of justice begin? We balk at governments for seizing peoples' laptops and webservers, yet we have a good laugh as we watch Microsoft scramble to burn all their documents. Is there really a difference?
Judge Pag, the Learned, Impartial, and Very Relaxed
I'm fed up with this kind of KRAP. Maybe heavy abusers should get their IP addresses published on the 'I fucked with slashdot' list. They might be a little less interested in wasting my time and everyone else's who wants to legitimately read other people's opinions on slashdot.
Other thought: I want an option to ignore all posts by ACs.
That's all.
Don't like my sig? I don't either.