Slashdot Mirror
AMD Employee Charged With Stealing Intel Secrets
IWonderWhatICanPutInThisFieldWithoutBeingDeleted writes "A man who once worked for Intel and then jumped ship to join AMD has been accused of stealing his erstwhile employer's chip secrets. Federal detectives allege they discovered 19 CAD designs and more than 100 pages of confidential Intel documentation."
(AMD) would never touch the stolen info with a 10-foot pole.
Even if they couldn't directly plagiarize the information to enhance their current architecture (I understand there are a lot of very fundamental differences between them), it would be valuable to AMD if they could determine, for example, how fast Intel's next gen chip is going to be in order to make a product that would be able to compete better, even if it meant sacrificing margins.
Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
Poaching the dumb employees from your competitor is probably not the most sound business plan, either.
We all steal IP when we leave. Most of us do it in our heads however.
I doubt "dumb" or "thief" was on his resumee.
No it was this:
Oh holy spagetti monster, every IT person and CS person absolutely rapes the IP when they leave.
In my boxes that I used to clean out my desk is at least 30 confidential documents that were packed there by the moving company, (I got to keep my desk! that was cool!) and I know I have copies of all the code I wrote when I was there as well as all the SQL queries I wrote.
I have yet to meet someone that says, "I just left company X, no I don't have anything from my old job..." or " I cant fix that, I fixed that at company Y and they own the IP to that fix."
All of you rape and pillage IP when you leave. Accidentally or on purpose, you do it. Being a moron and trying to SELL that or taking it with malicious intent? that is the kicker. if he had it because that is how his desk was packed up for him then it's not his fault, nor is he liable for anything.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
And generally they want to promote a culture of honesty and integrity. If Pepsi employees think it's okay to steal from Coke, they'll think it's okay to steal from Pepsi.
Certain political radicals would claim that capitalism is inherently dishonest and corrupt. Although there is plenty of that, they would be amazed at the degree of integrity required to run a successful business.
How do people think that they're going to pass this along and not get caught by some method?
Hell, after the Coca Cola incident I would be fearful of having my new employer even know I have such information, let alone use it in some manner.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
The irony is that his new employer (AMD) would never touch the stolen info with a 10-foot pole. The company I work with (also in the IT sector but not hardware) has very, very clear policies around competitive information. They know just how badly it would go for them if they made use of stolen information brought in by a new (or even existing) employee.
Only a complete and utter moron would come in with a stack of papers stolen from a competitor, I'd have him locked out of every system and escorted out the door before he could steal anything from our company. The problem is more if he's coming up with many great ideas, great analysis and great solutions - either you've scored one of those brilliant employees that drive a department or even division or he's using inside information, but there's no easy way to tell which. Or more likely, to suspect but just turn a blind eye and play completely surprised if shit hits the fan. I don't think the manager would go to legal unless it's so blatant he's sure the shit will hit the fan here and people would question why he didn't see the signs. As for legal, is that any surprise? Any lawyer that gave any other legal advice would probably be fired, disbarred and in jail.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
[..] it would be valuable to AMD if they could determine, for example, how fast Intel's next gen chip is going to be in order to make a product that would be able to compete better, even if it meant sacrificing margins.
Help me explain your theory here. What you are suggesting is that AMD is working at less than full capacity because they don't know what Intel is prepping in the future? These two companies are bittersweet rivals and knowing that your opponent's product will be 200% faster than the previous one is not going to make AMD's scientists think harder.
Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
Full Tilt
And I can only assume that you are very young or haven't spent much time in business. You appear to have drunk the cool-aid that Hollywood and others have prepared about what free enterprize is truly about.
The basic formula is this: Low integrity loses you both customers and employees. That's not to say that you can't make a profit doing this, but it's the more difficult route.
And no, I'm not an owner or executive.
The basic formula is this: Low integrity loses you both customers and employees. That's not to say that you can't make a profit doing this, but it's the more difficult route.
Sadly, not true. Low integrity makes you a short-term profit, and selects for e kind of executive who moves to a new company before it's apparent that is company has no future.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I hate to burst your bubble,
But neither company is "decades" ahead.
Both are roughly 4-5 years ahead on transistor design, less so on architecture. Based on what I do know of business, if they were decades ahead on a product they would get it to market ASAP, not sit on it.
Any time you see a tech company "sitting" on something for a trade show, it's because they are still trying to get it to work as close to flawlessly as possible, not because they are hoarding technology.
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump