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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 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"
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)
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
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.