Slashdot Mirror
Apple Settles with Tiger Leaker
The Hobo writes "CNet is carrying a story about Apple reaching a settlement with one of the Tiger leakers, 22-year-old Doug Steigerwald. The terms of the settlement were not released, but it was said that money will be paid to Apple. To quote Doug, 'As a member of Apple's Developer Connection program I received a pre-release version of Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' software, which I promised to keep confidential, instead, I disseminated it over the Internet, and thousands of unauthorized copies of Apple's software were illegally distributed to the public'"
at the zoo, and boy let me tell you they must drink a lot!
means that you won't disclose anything. Or give away a few thowsand copies of licenced, un-released software... huh.
I am sure that the admission of guilt was in no way a coherced condition of the settlement terms... :-)
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
What was the tiger leaking?
All humor aside. You have to assume when you receive a beta copy of something and signed an NDA there is some way for them to track you.
What's sad here is, he likely got pressured into giving up a copy or two to some friends, who probably SWORE they wouldn't share it.
They stood to lose nothing, and shared it with more of their friends and, etc, etc.
Wonder how those people feel now.
-NetMagi
OSX is better. Windows only has memory leaks!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Ok, so this developer violated his NDA and released a Tiger build via bittorrent... the question is, how badly did Apple Legal squeeze him. He's a student, so was this a slap-on-the-wrist (i.e x$1000). I'd kinda like to know. I also would expect that he's lost his Apple Developer status, but that's just me.
the case has been settled, and everyone's happy...
:)
Where's my torrent?
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
like $50,000 a year to Apple from him not working there anymore?
If you had even read the slashdot blurb of TFA, you'd know that he wasn't an apple employee, but rather a developer's connection member.
He was a member of the ADC program, not an employee.
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
Can't blame Apple here, I'd rather see their lawyers working on this kind of case than on better ways to enforce DRM. Pre-release versions give you a heads up on software advances and help companies release a better product.
On a side note, it's good to see this guy actually take responsibility for his actions, instead of hiding and blaming Apple.
I forgot what I wanted to say, but honestly, it was important.
Thats not the point, this is a punishment for what he did. It also serves as a deterrent incase somebody else does the same thing.
Jonathanjk.com
any clue on HOW many beta testers there are? Well, a lot. There is no way the software was signed in anyway to track it to him. They just got lucky that he made it very easy for them to target the originating point of the leak. Example: (Post in forum) Doug: If anyone is interested, I posted a torrent for the new tiger release of OSX. The link is here... Wow! When you click on his user account it has his full name and address!
He didn't work there, he just was part of their developer program ("Apple Developer Connection"). Actually, to be a part of the ADC level that receives OS seeds, *you* have to pay a certain amount per year.
Well, apple can't really just make him admit guilt and call it a day. They need to set some kind of an example. So making him pay an undisclosed amount is the best idea. This way he can pay a fraction of all the money Apple lost. (He'll probably very little since he's a recent graduate and probably owes the government a ton of $$).
Thanks, dude... I always said that Slashdot needed a spell checker for comments.
Since you obviously have nothing better to do in your life, I would say you should get the job!
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
The article says he's a "recent graduate of North Carolina State University who is currently looking for a job". I can't imagine this kind of publicity is a good kind to have when you are out interviewing.
Sure, most guys looking over the resumes aren't going to recognize the name, but there's got to be a company or two out there that actualy does the background checks.
Anyways I can't imagine is prospects are all that hot right now...
As far as Apple is concerned this is nothing at all to do with the money. It is entirely about putting out the message that if you sign a legally binding NDA and the distribute code/information then they will not stand idly by. The guy broke a contractual agreement that he had and I'm afraid he has to suffer the concequences.
RikF
In Soviet Russia you own your cat
there is a widely-held view that NDA's are meaningless and un-enforcable. this shows clearly that is not the case. i'm sure apple wants a certain amout of publicity around this to get that point across.
Uh...yeah, he wasn't an elephantoplasty but a membrane of Applet's Devolving Corruption...or something.
I drank what? -- Socrates
In the shadows of the night.
What immortal hand or eye
Dare leak thy secrets P-to-P?
Tyger
Person of questionable ethics: "Duuuuh...sure thing"
Time passes
Apple: "Hey! You distributed the pre-release over the Internet! We told you not to do that!"Person of questionable ethics: "DOH!"
I hope this dude was raked over the coals.
As these comprehensive databases like ChoicePoint record more civil an criminal judgements, it gets harder to obtain a job at a mainstream company. Article in Wired about this issue yesterday.
Setting a precedent and standing up for their rights while not mauling the guy to death. Nice.
from TFA: Steigerwald is actually not a student, but a recent graduate of North Carolina State University who is currently looking for a job.
Well, thanks to this story he has officially been transitioned to the permanent tech no-hire pool. I don't think any company would want to hire someone who so blatantly broke an NDA, and made the headlines for it.
I hear those people who drive snow plows make a killing. Maybe he can do that instead of software development.
How do you know he's not a rich punk?
/. ... there are few here who aren't hasty at most things in life..
You're the one jumping to conclusions and acting like a jerk (as you are accusing 'Apple' of being). Maybe also the 'financial payment' (confidential) was "give back what you paid us to join the ADC, and your ADC membership was cancelled".
College grad or not, if you don't know the -exact- terms of the deal, don't be so hasty to cast judgment. Oh, wait, this is
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
"Members of (the) Apple Developer Connection receive advance copies of Apple software under strict confidentiality agreements, which we take very seriously to protect our intellectual property," Apple said in a December statement.
How horrible that Apple should go after someone who broke a confidentiality agreement and disseminated software which wasn't his to begin with and which he had no right to disseminate.
Oh the horror!
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
"While Apple will always protect its innovations, it is not our desire to send students to jail,"
I thought it was a civil case, or is Steve Jobs made a royalty here so that offending him carries jail sentences? Besides how exactly do you "settle" a criminal case?
Any of us who work in the commercial sector will know that this guy only has himself to blame, and good on Apple for acting quickly. OSX is commercial software. He signed a NDA. He broke the terms of the agreement. End of story!
Jonathan Beckett http://www.pluggedout.com
So you condone piracy?
A financial settlement with a fresh college grad? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
What sort of settlement would you accept then? Corporal punishment? Or should Apple say "You naughty naughty boy, you pirated our software, but that's OK, we don't want any sort of punishment for you, otherwise emil (695) won't buy our products"?
Good luck, chief.
If somebody else does the same thing... how effective of a deterrent would it be?
Kinda like if a tree falls in the woods, does a bear wipe with Charmin?
Apple lost nothing as a result of his actions. In fact, they got a lot of free exposure.
And besides, we all know that there is nothing wrong with violating legal agreements when none of the involved parties is hurt.
I mean, that's why it's OK to share and download copyrighted music, right?
Socialism: A feeling of discontent and resentment caused by a desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
I'm not sure how much the settlement is, but it is well within Apple's rights. Maybe they asked for and received a token amount just to make an example of him.
For the record, MS has gone after people before. Parts of Win 2000/NT source code have been released. There has not been any news of capture but MS will probably use all their means to punish the offenders.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
The idea of the early release is to give developers who are willing to pay significant money, a head start in developing their applications so that they use the very latest and greatest features of the new OS (which in case is spotlight, etc). If Apple weren't to take action against piracy like the for-mentioned then these developers would lose faith and it be a lose-lose situation all round (including the end customer/user).
Sure, most guys looking over the resumes aren't going to recognize the name, but there's got to be a company or two out there that actualy does the background checks.
I think a bigger problem would arise if (background check) == (Google search). I strongly suspect that route would turn up more info [vis a vis this situation] than would a traditional background check. In any case I believe you are right: this individual has committed a CLM*.
* Career Limiting Move
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
But Apple never seems to be out of the courts these days. While they may be in the right, it's starting to damage their image - and since Apple survives mostly on image, it isn't smart.
forget karma, I just want to look you in the non-anonymous eye and tell you you're a fucking retard.
thank you for removing yourself from the Apple user base.
Incontinent Tiger, burning bright
Apple Secrets, in blog shall write
But tiger urine's not the drink for you
We know panther urine makes Mountain Dew.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
If Steve's head grows anymore they'll have to widen the door to his office. Apple is just as evil as Microsoft and if they ever beat Windows they'll turn their attention to destroying open source operating systems next.
So if you want to call lessening the punishment "coherced", you can. Apple gets what it want, untrustworthy developer get what he wants. Others might call it an equitable settlement.
"In exchange for an apology and being example to others (by signing this confession), we'll reduce the sentence from death to twenty years in the Gulag". So if you want to call lessening the punishment "coherced" [sic], you can. Russia gets what it wants, untrustworthy citizen get [sic] what he wants. Others might call it an equitable settlement.
See the problem with your logic, and your definition? I hope so, even if you can't bring yourself to admit it publicly.
I don't want to defend or excuse the actions of this fool for having disseminated Apple's secrets all over the net, violating not only the NDA, but trade secrets and copyright, but to call what happened "uncoerced" is to redefine the term along Newspeak guidelines.
Was what he did wrong and illegal? Yes.
Was the law clearly on Apple's side? Yes.
Could it have been worse for the offendor? Yes.
Was the offendor coerced into making a public apology and serving as a scary example to others? You bet he was.
$10,000 is probably a lot to most any 22-year-old. $500,000 would have destroyed him. "Do what we tell you or we'll destroy you" is about as coercive as it gets, whether or not the one being coerced is on the right side of the law. If you have any doubt about this, I suggest referring to the definition of the word, which I have conveniently pasted above.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
If only he could remove himself from the userbase of the living.
When the RIAA exercise their legal rights and haul pirates into court, they receive no end of criticism here on Slashdot for abusing grandmothers, children, poor college kids etc.
When Apple does the same thing to a student, the Apple apologists trip over themselves in their haste to pillory the poor college kid that dared to provoke Apple's wrath. Then it seems the ones with mod points rush out to label any dissenting views as flamebait.
I agree with the original poster. A financial settlement is way out of line. His admission of guilt is damning enough in terms of reducing future employment options. Demanding cash on top of that -- regardless of the amount -- is just abusing someone in an indefensible position.
Nobody likes a bully.
Has anyone toyed with the idea that maybe Apple did this as some elaborate marketing ploy? I mean this whole ordeal hasn't hurt them any and maybe the reason that they haven't released a settlement sum is that they paid him to take the shot, in exchange for a job and no legal action. Or my paranoia could be kicking in again.
"Carpe diem is what happened to me!"
Actually he signed up under the free membership. Someone who had a professional membership transferred one of their seed licenses to him. The reason why it works this way is that for example, I have an ADC membership. I can purchase a an annual paid membership, but instead someone else at my company (in purchasing) does this and then transfers assets to someone on the development team who then transfers them to other team members (like me).
Assets include DTS questions, seed licenses, hardware discounts, WWDC tickets, and other things.
We always have left over seed licenses. Apparently some *real* developer transferred this kid a seed license. Because he had only signed up for the free service, he didn't really think about the NDA much.
Apple's new rule is that you can only transfer assets to people at your company. I am not sure yet how that rule will affect me. I do some consulting and so I get assets transferred to me by multiple companies. I've had my membership for 10 years and worked at 5 companies during that time, plus other consulting work.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Sure I downloaded For I was curious about it. Never got it to boot or anything, but I forgot about the copy left on the Limewire shared folder. Didn't think much of it since I never got the software to run properly, so I figured it was broken.
Couple of weeks go by and I get a very angry call from my ISP telling me to delete the file immediately. Apparently, Apple called them and told them I had an illegal copy of their software on my machine. Needless to say, it scared the crap out of them and they in turn scared the crap out of me for they were fearing a lawsuit, etc. etc.
The point of this little story is that this is nothing new on Apple's part. They're always protecting their R&D investment. And while the young and restless will snicker, it really taught me a lesson about respecting other people's hard work. This is something you don't learn until you start getting older apparently, for I would never have felt that way about it when I was a younger.
Do I feel sorry for the guy that got sued, well, not really. He violated a contract, an agreement, and when that happens you have to suffer the consequences. Besides, I think there is more to the story than we are privy to. It's a waste of money for Apple to send their legal bird of prey after a 22 year old unless he really did some damage. These days with things like BitTorrent, the damage grows exponentially...and unfortunately, so does the punishment as a result.
No, I think you're fully baked...
Insightful or Insightful... take your pick.
While I agree that this particular instance has little negative monetary impact on Apple, I must ask....why do they make people sign NDAs? Not just for fun I can assure you that. Of course it is about money, this just causes a large ripple that hopefully sends a message and protects future NDAs and makes them more meaningful (hence more likely to protect Apple's interests, ergo money).
Your statement is akin to someone asking "Why did the plane crash?" to which you answer "Because it fell out of the sky."
They could have sent him to jail. Also, you don't know the terms .. it could have been some *really* nominal fee like $1 with a provision that he can't disclose the amount of money. That way when other hear that he had to reach a "financial settlement", they might assume it was a lot of money and think twice when handling confidential materials.
I doubt Apple is really trying to get rich off of this guy. I think they just want people to not distribute their seeds.
Apple periodically sends out messages (plus I've heard them in person at WWDC several times) that you have to be careful with the seeds and not put them on the internet. They say that they have strongly considered ending the program for that reason, but want to be able to share their seeds fairly with all developers - not just the big boys like Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft, etc. who will always be getting seeds.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
So that's what happened to Michael Jackson's nose.
When did his "The More You Know!" PSA air?
IronChefMorimoto
Including premature ejaculation.
Where there are lawyers involved, there will cash payments.
It's the nature of the beast.
Of course, this *is* /.
Apart forom the contractual issues - which I'm not dismissing - How exactly was Apple disadvantaged by this "release". I ask because the scope of an NDA is usually the "value of loss" and even inside the RDF the value Apple's loses by someone "releasing" a beta version is aproaching zero. So while the NDA has been broken - the amount of compensation would be minimal because Apple would find it hard to demonstrate financial loss from a beta release.
The guy broke a NDA, he signed an agreement not to release the software. This is speaks to the one of the foundation of our society, the ability to make an hold to an agreement.
The ad hominem attack on Jobs is a nice little aside to the fact that the law recognizes agreements as important to the structure of business.
Plus, it has to do with karma, Slashdot currently sees MS and the RIAA as entities without karma, both have done so many stupid and malicious things that they can't help but react with pitchforks and 'effigies'. Meanwhile, Apple has created nice products without finding interesting ways of screwing its customers. That's the difference; you shouldn't have gotten Troll but rather Redundant for saying something that has been in every thread here for the last year.
Try to be more clever; like 'Reich-publicans' I like that.
Anyone who whines about being modded down should be.
Take that a step further, if Microsoft went after you and your buddies for having illegal copies of Windows (yeah, I know that makes about 1/2 of us) you'd get angry at M$.
This is even softer, since I think we'd all agree that leaking beta software is not near as harsh as leaking production software. Don't get me wrong here. I completely agree that Apple should be able to force the issue a little here, but my opinion does seem biased.
Sincerely,
A Mac Zealot and Noted Hypocrite
...in order to pay off the money that Apple could sue him for, I bet that Apple is making him sign an NDA regarding how much money he actually does have to pay. How much you want to bet he doesn't violate this non-disclosure agreement?
"Apple feeds off of this energy and their evangelical fanatics, and is now taking a stab at their very base."
You seem to imply that this kind of thing has never happened before. This is not true. Apple benefits from the speculation about what they might be doing, but they are hurt by people actually knowing.
Think of the the apple rumor community as a bunch of stalkers. Sure they're usually just annoying and creepy, but sometimes they go to far and break into your house. You have to let them know when they've crossed the line.
When Apple does the same thing to a student, the Apple apologists trip over themselves in their haste to pillory the poor college kid that dared to provoke Apple's wrath. Then it seems the ones with mod points rush out to label any dissenting views as flamebait.
Personally I agree that the RIAA has every right to pursue pirates, but like most people here I disagree with their non-selective and sometimes inaccurate method of finding pirates.
I'm guessing most people here were offended by the grandmother because of how it was done. One grandmother was who was sued didn't own a PC or P2P software. She was erroneously identified by IP not by person. That was what go me angry. If you are going to sue someone make sure you have the right person.
As for the children, legally you can't hold them responsible; you can hold their parents responsible. The RIAA could have used discretion and not pursue the matter. They chose otherwise, and that's their choice. It didn't make a good PR move, though.
The whole issue of P2P is still not settled. Under the spirit of the law, file sharing is illegal, but fair use is a loophole that hasn't been fully resolved. Most of the file sharers are breaking the law, and some may not know it (especially the kids).
In this case, the college student agreed not to distribute and he did it anyway. Apple identified him and sued him.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
They don't disclose the amount because it's a paltry sum, the guilty party being an unemployed recent graduate. It's much scarier this way, thus dissuading future bit torrenting of NDA protected material. If we knew the actual penalty was a few hundred bucks, then how dissuasive would that be?
That's my theory anyway. I hope Apple was nice enough to the kid, he's allowed at least one stupid mistake.
Since the amount was not disclosed, I would think it to be a small amount. If it was some large amount, I think they would have published the amount. An unknown amount may have as much, if not more "fear factor" than a known large amount, when it comes to discouraging future behaviour in others.
So, I think the carping about picking on a "poor student" is a load of crap. To enter into a binding contract, one must be of the age of majority. If he then broke the terms of the NDA, I have no sympathy.
Have you ever considered that Slashdot has more than one user, and therefore the set of users who are pillorying the "poor college kid" (he's an adult, not a kid by the way - old enough to do responsible jobs like fly an airliner or serve as an officer in the armed forces) are not necessarily a memeber of the set of users who whine about the RIAA/MPAA protecting their IP rights?
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Being a zealot wouldn't you want Apple to succeed? Knowing that you're armed with Apple's latest and greatest wouldn't you become a guardian or do you simply fold like a fat, drunken security guard sleeping at the gate?
Trade secrets are just that, secret. Why are so many people blabbermouths when it comes to hidden information? It'll all come out eventually, why can't you just be happy that you know something before everyone else? Can't you just come out and say, Apple is working on some really cool stuff and not be specific?
It's rather mind boggling.
Peace
Insightful or incite-ful ... take you pick. ;^)
Just nit-picking...
This begs the eternal question: How do you tell a man, and trust him, not to disclose the amount of money when you're suing him for breaking a signed contract?
I don't get it.
I've wondered for a while why Apple doesn't try to put in slightly stronger copy protection on their stuff. Of course few copy protection schemes work very well (except the new iLok, which so far has proven to be pretty strong) but at least it would be a deterant. Adobe also falls into this. Just a serial number for photoshop? That's just screaming 'upload me with an nfo file'
Tibbon
tibbon.com
When the RIAA sues someone for distributing their songs using p2p software, there are hundreds of posts from outraged /.ers. When someone does the same thing with Apple software, the attitude is, he got what he deserved. Is there a double standard here?
Vote for Pedro
MOD PARENT DOWN -- doesn't understand the legal system, or the grandparent's post. It is absolutely NOT allowable, and carries severe criminal penalties, to agree to drop criminal charges in exchange for a civil settlement. Moreover, no criminal act took place here. Breach of contract is NOT CRIMINAL and cannot result in jail time. The grandparent got it right too -- you can't "settle" a criminal case. Whoever provided that quote to the press about "not sending students to jail" didn't understand the case or the applicable law.
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
I'm not suggesting that the guy should have been let off the hook. Apple clearly has a vested interest in making sure their NDAs have teeth, the same way that the RIAA have a vested interest in curbing rampant piracy of members' intellectual property.
The point I was trying to make is that it is possible to accept that the individual is guilty of wrongdoing without turning into cheerleaders for companies that maximize the punitive aspects of a settlement.
It is even possible to fully recognize the legal merits of Apple's position but yet be so disgusted by their actions as to want to boycott them in the future. It might be excessive but it's not entirely unreasonable.
Seeing that if the information is leaked they'll know exactly how it got out and can proceed with both civil and criminal proceedings against him, I think that's a much better incentive for him not to disclose the monetary penalty.
It isn't like someone's offering to give him ten times as much to tell. There's nothing in it for him to disclose the number.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
"While Apple will always protect its innovations, it is not our desire to send students to jail," Apple said in a statement to CNET News.com.
Yeah, I forgot that Apple had the ability to bring criminal charges against private citizens. Remember back in 2001 when congress passed a bill making it legal for Apple to prosecute people criminally. They even had an episode of Law and Order where Apple bought down a reputed mob boss for a contract killing.
Yeaaaa Apple!!! Keep'on keepin' our streets safe!
It's only human nature to boast...
"I know some-thing (or some-body) that you don't know..."
Then after all the excitement wears down and people don't care anymore (in about 5-10 seconds), the often boaster often suffers withdrawl symptoms from temporarily being the center of attention and proceeds to spill the beans until there's no secret left (usually this goes much faster with people who are social introverts and under the influence of ethanol)...
Most zealots actually don't care much about the object of their zealotry (e.g., trekkies), but are more facsinated by the social aspect of their zealotry (which means they are like most normal human beings) and crave increased status in their own cliques over devoting their life to some abstract concept (which is only human nature)...
Not to say there aren't true zealots or there isn't a continuum, but most people would find those folks on the very edge of zealotry often non-social and quite scary (think mad-scientist -> unibomber)... Most human beings seek attention and approval from their collegues, cohorts and conspirators (but usually not from the public at large).
From what I gather reading about this fellow, he's definitly leaning away from the "zealot" side of the scale (as mentioned by the above poster, a true zealot would probably never talk to his friends about tiger and probably proceed to write a 200 page report about tiger and send it to apple in hopes that they would take his advice)...
Does the settlement involve any sort of sodomy and/or putting a lotion bottle in a basket?
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
Yeah I know my post is a bit redundant, but i don't think its anymore so than all of the posts claiming the virtue of apple, I agree they have good products and designs, but their fanbase is a little too cult like.
:)
P.S. to the anonymous coward who said i was fully baked, No not until 4:20, and I'm rubber your glue whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you
You do it by putting a clause in the contract that if he does disclose the settlement terms, there will be a large hammer falling on him shortly thereafter. He'd be an idiot to do it.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
Apple mostly likely let him off the hook with a token payment. Which is a good thing.
Its really hard to put a number value on the damage caused to Apple by all this, but it can really hurt Apple if they are preceived as being excessively vindictive.
for large software firms. The previous poster is correct that the companies making the software know it will be pirated. When you more for a software package then the machine costs to buy you have to expect people wouldn't buy your package. They are waiting for a large company to buy licenses in some volume for big profits.
You are overextending the definition of "coercion".
Hardly. I used the term correctly and accurately. This is stark contrast to the phrase "equitable agreement" as used in the post I replied to.
By this logic, you are saying that all of the plea bargaining that goes on in the justice system every day is mere "coercion". But most people would not use this word to describe a situation where a prosecutor wants to guarantee a conviction, so she offers the defendant a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.
There is a great deal of coercion that does in fact go on in the plea bargaining process, to the point that innocent people have plea-bargained despite their innocence to avoid what they see as an inevitable worse outcome, and to the point where people have given false evidence in order to get off more lightly.
Whether or not coercing people in these situations is just or not is another debate, but the fact of the matter is that it is coercion. I would argue that when private companies can engage in such coercion, that that has far more unpleasant implications than when a district attorney does so. Nevertheless, as history has shown, both often have unjust and unintended consiquences. We accept it anyway, partly out of comfort with the status quo and fear of change, partly because we can't imagine a better approach, and partly because we're involved in our own lives and don't really give a shit.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
As a member of Apple's Developer Connection program I received a pre-release version of Apple's Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' software, which I promised to keep confidential, instead, I disseminated it over the Internet, and thousands of unauthorized copies of Apple's software were illegally distributed to the public
...and I purposefully contracted syphillis...
I mean, that's why it's OK to share and download copyrighted music, right?
I'm sorry, I must have missed this part of the article, settlement, or story. Where did this issue even come up again?
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Nah more like officially we bitchslap you unofficially we are impressed by the shere number of bugs we squashed. Officially we emares you to tears,shred your dignity, and make you our bitch. Unofficially we keep half an eye on you and as you just happen you beable to counter wrangle the legal team who just happens to let you 'work from home' to pay off this 'enormous' debt.
Thankfuly for you and your sense of justice. The person in question has repeatedly stated that he was in the wrong.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Thankfuly for you and your sense of justice. The person in question has repeatedly stated that he was in the wrong.
Yes, and no one has argued otherwise.
What he did was wrong. But does that mean his admission of guilt was truly of his own free will, or coerced out of him? And if it was coerced, how reliable is it? In this case, pretty reliable. In many, many other cases, coerced confessions have been anything but reliable or factually accurate.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
I just had to post cause I'm proud of remembering the last line
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
copyright violation in excess of a certain amount is.
My first thought was that Apple couldn't solve a [memory] leak with Tiger, but they were going to release it anyway.
Join Tor today!
What rough beast Its hour come 'round at last Slinks its way towards Cuppertino To be born.
Isaiah 43:19 (NCV)
Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don't you see it?
you shall wash the streets with your own blood, filthy closed source pig! what he did, he did for freedom! freedom is on the march!
your logic is faulty. how do i know this? because the slashdroids told me. look at all these brilliant arguments about why apple is right in this case, and look at the other article arguments about why dvdjohn is right. ----- i thnk what it boils down to is that might makes right. and you sir, are not mighty. your puny comment only has a 3 rating, while many geniuses have 5 ratings. its simple logic!
Wrong. It was also copyright violation.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
no sense of morals whatsoever, and they got very fancy jobs thank you
Okay, this guy (who we'll refrain from calling "a total dumb@ss" for now), signs the usual legal agreement with Apple and receives confidential software, that he then, against contract, distributes to the web. Apple, with contract in hand, takes this guy to court. They bring this guy to the full accountability of the court, (which he knew about beforehand). In an act that I would describe as barely short of weakness, Apple offers this guy a way out of having to pay 500-Grand. ...
And people have a problem with this?
The guy willingly and directly defied his contract agreement by distributing this software, and Apple rightly came after him. Considering the way in which he broke contract, they should have nailed him to the wall!
It's more of an example to pirates when companies show no mercy!
This guy broke the law. Deliberately. It might be different if he like, had his computer stolen or something. What? Is he claiming that he opened a can of Jesus Christ and was told to put Tiger on the web? Please...
If Apple wants to send a message to software pirates, they shouldn't do it by showing that they give pirates a break. If the full penalty crushes this guy into a sublevel of hobbo that he'll never recover from, so be it. He knew what he was doing. They should lock him away in a deep dark hole for the rest of eternity (or, if yer a darwinist like me, shoot him).
Because of all the other shit they've been pulling.
I guess this is just like when Microsoft has their Enterprise editions leaked, but without all the anti-trust courts in America and the European Union.
But truth be told, I'd rather them be leaking Apple's OS than Microsoft's, just in terms of IRC zombies.
I don't understand... why would someone want to steal his identity?
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
"How horrible that Apple should go after someone who broke a confidentiality agreement and disseminated software which wasn't his to begin with and which he had no right to disseminate. "
And if it was done to Microsoft, there's no end to the lengths of hypocrisy most slashdotters would go to in order to cheer on the leakers.
man leaks MS secrets = Yay!
does it to Apple = Boo!
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
There is a great deal of coercion that does in fact go on in the plea bargaining process, to the point that innocent people have plea-bargained despite their innocence to avoid what they see as an inevitable worse outcome, and to the point where people have given false evidence in order to get off more lightly.
If Apple's sole purpose was to extract money from an innocent individual, or if they never had any intention of going to court, then I would agree with you. However, as you pointed out in your original post, this does not appear to be the situation here. This man violated the NDA, Apple believed the damage done by this violation to be worth $500,000, and they went to court to collect it. I see no coercion here. Consider this: What if Apple never offered a settlement, and the court eventually sided with Apple and ordered the man to pay $500,000? Would you still call this coercion? If so, then we are no longer debating the semantics of coercion and are instead discussing the quality of our justice system, for it would then be a court of law doing the coercion you speak of.
I not only condone it, I think it's great. Any more questions?
I didn't get a copy of this "dissemination" before they busted him.
nuts. vise. vengence.
"Hardly. I used the term correctly and accurately."
Contrary to the corrections above from about 20 different posters.
But they're all probably wrong, and you're right. 'Cause you're really, really smart. Your mommy said so.
If your previous employer gets a civil judgment against you for stealing office equipment, your prospective employers have a right to know that. Where ChoicePoint gets into trouble is that they do not use up-to-date data when they give their reports. This is a direct violation of the FCRA.
The reason this is so bad is let's say you are charged with a felony on 3/25/2005 and ChoicePoint pulls their quarterly criminal report from your county on 4/1/2005. Now let's say on 4/20/2005 the charge gets reduced to a misdomenor and on 5/10/2005 the charge gets dismissed because the cops caught the real guilty party.
If you applied for a job on 5/20/2005, and your prospective employer runs a ChoicePoint background check on 5/22/2005, that felony will come up on your criminal report, even though the charge was dismissed! And what's worse, ChoicePoint isn't even notifying the person whose background is being reported, as is required by the FCRA.
This is what is wrong with ChoicePoint.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
Be that as it may, I would strongly urge you not to sign any agreement that you do not agree to, even if you believe that the offending items in it would not be enforceable. If it ever came down to it, it would cost you thousands of dollars in attorney's fees to get an answer in court as to what is enforceable and what is not, and you very well might lose! Especially if it can be shown that you signed the contract in bad faith.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
"We've all got it comin', kid."
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot
If you believe in privacy, and believe you have "nothing to hide" at the same time, you're a goddammed idiot