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Sysadmin Steals Almost 20,000 Pieces of Computer Equipment
coondoggie writes "Now this is some serious computer theft. We're talking 19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment from the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. The theft included everything from PCs and printer toner to hard drives, software and other office equipment amounting to over $120,000, according to court documents and published reports."
So my guess is a few big ticket items, and then lots and lots and LOTS of some small item.
Where do I find these $6 computers this guy is stealing?
19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment [...] amounting to over $120,000
Wow, that's almost $6.09 per stolen item! Truly, this is comparable to a $700,000,000,000 wall street bailout.
He borrowed it!
The average cost of the items are:
$120,000/19709 = $6.08
So either the Navy is doing a *good* job of penny pinching with their part of the defense budget or that the person really like stealing stuff that are worthy of Walmart.
What does this have to do with YRO? That is, unless he stole the suff over SSH...
In further news, a source inside the Pentagon reports that 17 pencils have been reported missing over the last three months. "These are critical communication devices, built to mil spec standards. They have the potential to inflict injury to an untrained operator. The Pentagon takes these communications security breaches quite seriously, and we will be looking for further funding to study this National Vulnerability."
... with my rights online?
Hey, I didn't steal anything. Don't look at me.
It seems to me that he did clear out the archive of old and useless equipment. Think about it: 20K of stuff worth 120K in US dollars? That's an average of 6 dollars per item, and you can rest assured that it won't be the minimum that they are quoting. Also, how can you be missing 20K of equipment? Well, easy, since it was probably collecting dust anyway.
But stealing is dangerous stuff, because you will upscale as long as you can get away with it. Once you've started it, it's more difficult to stop, since you've already taken the moral hurdle. And at some time someone is going to miss something, either because of bad luck or because the person taking the stuff is moving upwards.
I've got an old passive AGP Matrox dual head card laying around the office. It would be a perfect fit for one of my older computers. But I won't take it, even though I'm sure it won't be used anymore. That said, the way companies handle old equipment could be considered criminal as well.
... I believe you still have my err, uh, stapler.
wants to be free!
And I felt bad when I used a company CD-R!
Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness?
Seems pretty lenient considering this is a case of grand theft and potentially identity theft since there was information about contractors. It could also be construed, perhaps, as terrorism or treason considering the organization the equipment and data was stolen from.
Contrast this with penalties for copying music over the internet. Is "Enter Sandman" a more valuable national resource than naval research equipment and data in Washington?
The servers were refurbished and donated to a charity as their office servers and the surplus PC has been my desktop for over a year.
If you never ask, the answer will always be no. On the whole, people are nice, if only you are nice to them. Would you deny someone a piece of old equipment if they asked nicely? Then why should someone deny it to you?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I have a, eh, 'friend'....that used to work for M******** Aircraft many years ago in Long Beach. He had full area access due to his job, and that part was unusual, but it meant he could come and go as he pleased - his job also meant driving a van full of equipment on a regular basis.
His method was to first move equipment around inside the plant, waiting to see if anyone noticed. When the stuff went unnoticed for a period of time (say after an audit), he would load up and drive off base to his home, where the van would be unloaded.
This went on for years and he eventually changed jobs.
It was almost three years later that investigators came to his new home, hundreds of miles away. When they walked up to his door, they could see the open garage that was stuffed to the ceiling with everything from o'scopes to monitors to cameras...on and on and on.
In the end, the company got it all back (he kept and took very good care of everything), and only charged him with theft of one almost worthless item, since that was the only piece they felt like parting with long enough to prosecute. They later told him they were shocked to find him with so much stuff...they said their research told them it would take more than a dozen people to pilfer so much equipment.
I think TFS was longer than TFA
I was a postdoc at NRL for three years. They used to do random searches on the way out, but in the three years I was driving in and out, I was never stopped, so the percentage of outbound cars they searched must have been quite small.
I brought equipment home while I was there, such as laptops, but they were bought for me to use. (Of course, we never did get around to creating a property pass, so technically I would have had some serious explaining to do had they stopped me and found the laptop on the way out.)
... get job at US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC., steal 19,708 pieces of computer equipment. Walk away a free man.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
The Bastard Operator From Hell counts on the fact that managers never remember...
To err is human.
Apparently he didn't get any of those $600 toilet seats or $900 hammers that we used to hear about the military procuring.
Life needs more saving throws.
Steeling from your "boss" is quite a common phenomenon. some say that people who feel neglected or wrongfully treated are the ones that steel the most at their workplace... I don't know if thats true, but it does make sense. Happy people usually don't commit crimes... unless their happiness is chemically provoked :P
ANY military institution that lets goddamn NINETEEN THOUSAND PIECES OF HARDWARE EQUIPMENT to be stolen,
.... well im speechless .... i cant even find analogies.
Read radical news here
No one is saying that stuff walking away is a good thing, but 19+ thousand items at about $6.00 (est) average per item is typical office flow.
Listen, workers often bring things "into" work that are not counted, and some bring things back. I wouldn't even call it "quid pro quo," I'd call it humans working as humans do. We all do it, nothing bad mind you, I'll burn a DVD of stuff and bring it to work. I'll use my laptop because the company I may be working doesn't want to buy me one if I don't need it.
We are not machines, humans become "part" of the organizations to which they belong, and without malice "communal" supplies and things just get used.
Also, in a large technology environment, there is so much stuff that either gets tossed or walks. Think about keyboards, how many people order a cordless keyboard/mouse for their PCs? Well, what happens to the OEM keyboard/mouse? I'll tell you, it sits in a closet until it gets tossed or walks.
We setup a big data center a number of years back, we ordered 300 Dell servers, each and every damn one came with a keyboard and a mouse. We had a small mountain of brand-new mice and keyboards we didn't know what to do with. Dell would ship without them, and we couldn't get rid of them. So, we left them in a pile, and about 50% walked away.
Then there are hard disks, you upgrade a 100G hard disk to a 250G hard disk, 250g to 500g, what do you do with the old ones? They, too, sit in a closet. They have "book" value but no actual usable value. Computers, jeez, you can't get rid of them, but after 18 months they have "book" value but no practical resale value. It costs more in man-power to dispose of a 2 years old computer than it does to buy a new one. So it sits in a corner or a closet until someone asks "will that be missed?" and the response is "its just taking up space, I know nothing."
Your "human community" will use these things. The books will show a loss, but no real loss has occurred. Bonus! You get to deduct the loss, blame pilfering, and in the end stuff useless to organization stops taking up space and gets used, employees are better off, and there's room in the closets.
This is actually the best way. If they "gave" it to the employees, it would mean paperwork and taxes. This way, its just "lost" so sad. Everyone knows it, everyone does it, and this article is just a CYA piece.
...to check if your boss is one of the people making use of the 'loophole' before going to report on him ;=)
Steal $120,000 from a local bank and see how many years in jail you end up with.
I once got assigned as the new technical support rep for my company in Ft. Myers. One of my first tasks was to do an inventory of the computer supply room which (was supposed to have) contained a few dozen PCs, replacement parts, printers, etc.. So I pulled up, introduced myself and went to the supply room. It was almost empty except for some used PCs. I called my supervisor and asked where the supply room was. My supervisor was a little annoyed and told me that I "couldn't miss it" because of all the equipment. So I felt dumb and looked around some more but couldn't find this room full of equipment.
I call my supervisor. He's upset and tells me he's on his way from Naples.. An hour later he arrives. We walk to the room. First word out of his mouth, "Crap."
Loss prevention came by and interviewed me but I don't think they ever recovered the equipment. Not sure if it was the previous admin who snagged the stuff, or maybe someone saw that the guy was gone and saw an opportunity to load up a van.
He only stole one computer, took a picture of it and copied it 20,000 times.
Because in USA, copying is stealing!
One 128 core processor and 38 reams of paper...
"The theft included everything from PCs and printer toner to hard drives, software and other office equipment amounting to over $120,000 according to court documents and published reports."
Hard drives are now $6.00? What did he grab? The MFM lying around? The drum over in the corner?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
Well, I left Kentucky back in '49
An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line
The first year they had me puttin' wheels on cadillacs
Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by
And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry
'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.
One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand
Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired
But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired
I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand.
[CHORUS]
I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is a round.
So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends
I left that day with a lunch box full of gears
Now, I never considered myself a thief
GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it out over several years.
The first day I got me a fuel pump
And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk
Then I got me a transmission and all of the chrome
The little things I could get in my big lunchbox
Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home.
Now, up to now my plan went all right
'Til we tried to put it all together one night
And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.
The transmission was a '53
And the motor turned out to be a '73
And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone.
So we drilled it out so that it would fit
And with a little bit of help with an A-daptor kit
We had that engine runnin' just like a song
Now the headlight' was another sight
We had two on the left and one on the right
But when we pulled out the switch all three of 'em come on.
The back end looked kinda funny too
But we put it together and when we got thru
Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin
About that time my wife walked out
And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts
But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."
So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around
But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.
[CHORUS]
I got it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.
[Spoken] Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on
Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Ugh!, what model is it?
It's a 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 automobile. It's a 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 automobile.
The next time some physicist is accused of misplacing (or selling) secret data, just remember this. NRL isn't just some lab somewhere, it's a military lab. While I'm sure this guy didn't want to go selling secrets anywhere, taking old hard drives can lose some scientists their jobs very easily.
Only 2 Years?
I have a hard time considering it stealing if it's going in the trash. I assume it's still legally someone's property until the trash has been physically taken away, but morally it can't be considered theft.
They were PCs. $6/ea seems about right.
Sadly for my morals, I was always brought up to steal things and just 'don't get caught'... on to the stories...
Through my years in the IT industry at various jobs, private and government I have 'liberated' a plethora of items, most of which I'm sadly proud of.
Admitedly, I know it's wrong but on the flip side to that, many, many MANY! of the items I've 'liberated' are not ever missed, the vast vast vast majority infact.
Here's some basic examples.
In one of my jobs for a government dept, I was there during a PC replacement project, in another team.
The staff member (IDIOT!) who was employed as an asset manager has no comprehension of the value of old hardware, nor does the person signing the deals for the PC's we purchased.
In this example, PC's were purchased in 100 to 500 unit lots, these were off the shelf PC's that an end user could buy from Dell, HP, Acer web sites.
As some of you may be aware, the industry is slowing down, so old parts are not that terrible anymore.
Example: Spend $900.00 on a new Dell Core 2 Duo Desktop machine with 2gb of ram, to replace a Pentium 4 with 512 or 1gb of ram, with perfectly good 17" LCD, 60gb HDD etc.
Anyhow, to get to the point, the procurement people managed to purchase the new machines at MORE than the cost an end user could find them for on the respective, Dell, HP, Acer etc websites - despite buying HUNDREDS of the things! (how?!)
The only discount that was offered was the OLD computer(s) were taken away for free.
Yes, that's right - and this project was several years ago when a 1gb Pentium 4, in a nice slimline HP case (surprisingly well built) and 60gb drive was still a perfectly reasonable computer for your family / parents or friends.
The people taking the machines away from the place didn't track them too well and would often leave them in piles around the building, or our own staff would.
Suffice to say, over the past 7 years of work, I must have sold at LEAST 20 full computers (case, keyboard, mouse, display) varying from CRT, LCD, 19" 17" - Pentium 4 2ghz with 256mb to Pentium 4 3.4ghz with 1gb ram, DVD burners, 60gb hard disks etc./
Each of these is worth at least $100 on the second hand market up to $250 or even $400 for some of them too.
What frustrates me is that the department can't give or sell these components to staff, they won't employ someone to sell the parts second hand either.
I mean quite honestly I see the quantity and quality of hardware simply thrown out or given away and as a geek I can genuinely and utterly assure anyone reading this far, I could comfortably pay myself a wage of $70,000 a year and STILL make the department a profit in selling old goods - but nope, we give them away or even in some cases PAY to have good machines taken away.
In the above example I have no hesitation, and no regrets in liberating this equipment, mine and your tax money goes towards this type of stupidity.
(yes, even Americans, I've got no doubt your government departments do the same thing)
This is only the beginning of the things I've liberated over the years (not all govt, far from it I've been in many jobs), as mentioned - quite honestly less than 2% of the things I've ever taken have been complained about.
Here goes... - very very approximate list
20 modems (back when they were a 150$ item just as broadband was new)
30+ hard drives
20full PC's including monitor / keyboard / mouse
Graphics cards
Scanner
10 LCD monitors
CD or DVD burners
Old printers
SCSI cables
Tools
Blank disks
Switches, routers
Memory (100 sticks plus?)
3 boxes of paper reams
20 print cartidges
High quality monitor arms (not cheap either, I highly recommend good flexible display arms)
High quality office chair (1000$ RRP)
Crockery, cutlery matching sets to replace my old stuff
10 gallons of washing liquid
5kgs of coffee
2 year supply of toilet paper for a house of 4.
5 laptops ('old' ones that needed to be replaced, you know - just 1.6ghz P
"were talking 'military spec' pencils"
I know you're joking, but I was thinking something similar. Could it be ex-military spec junk hardware?. It could just be junk hardware that's getting thrown out (over a 10 year period), but is not officially signed off as allowed to be taken home as junk. From the paper trail it would look like the junk was still owned. Plus if people leave the organisation who allowed others to take some old junk home, then it would be hard to prove it was given away as rubbish. The paperwork would say it was still owned.
Considering how they are (only) now starting to take security a lot more seriously, I'm wondering if they are making an example of this person, who's basically got a house and/or garage full of junk?. Plus a system admin working for them, would probably get access to a lot of junk old hardware. It could just be old rubbish, but to paranoid non-technical types, who are looking for demons to fear everywhere, they would see it as wrong, rather than just seeing some engineer collecting a lot of interesting looking rubbish, before it hits the rubbish bins.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
I am sysadmin in a pharmaceutical company, and the Parent is correct.
We have 3 DELL 2600 servers with Dual CPU Xeon cpu, SCSI raid5, 4GB RAM ready to make their final trip to the dumpster.
We cannot use them anymore for plant systems because they are obsolete and out of support.
They are too big and noisy to use as test systems (as opposed to the 2U 2650s that we are going to keep just for that).
I would love to have even one of those machines in my basement, but it is not going to happen.
Corporate policy forbids employees from taking or even buying obsolete equipment.
In the beginning it was allowed, but someone once abused the system really badly, so now there has to be a documented paper trail for the destruction of all things going the the digital eternity.
We are going to try and give them away to a charity or school because it hurts to see those perfectly good machines except the disks) destroyed. But if we can't find anyone willing to take them, they will be destroyed. :(
everyone else is just trying to get their shit back....
Seems like a lot work for around $6.00 a PC. I figured the Navy would want a smart sysadmin. Imagine carrying off 19,706 items for so little return .... it's almost laughable.
If you end up in jail you're doing it wrong.
What you do is make LOTs of 120k loans even if you know they will never be repaid.
Then you get a big bonus etc for doing so well. The bonus could be 120K?
When stuff goes bad, you say "But everyone was doing it too". And everyone else nods their head in agreement.
With the Bush administration looting Washington, I guess everyone wants a piece now. A billion here, a trillion there, 19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment... who cares anymore!
It's a free-for-all!
Washington man trying to enter supercomputer race with a computer containing 18,000 Pentium 2 cores.
Defective Logic
...if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...
-
Wonder if he worked for Dino and Luigi? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRm5WcjOikQ
The dollar amount given is most likely the book value of the assets stolen. If it's the book value they stated, they most likely depreciated the assets fully after two years (typical for companies and computer equipment). I'll take a free two year old computer any day.
And, stealing is stealing--no matter what the value. If they guy was taking things without authorization (written if he was smart) then he's a thief and an idiot.
19,500 CDs at
208 larger items at $548.79 ea: $114148.32
One frayed USB cable: $1.68
Self-rebating your IRS overcharges: priceless
(T)he (O)ld (M)an
were those Pentagon $1,000 screws or $400 chair-foot caps?
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
I have seen both ways. One company insisted that machines were DESTROYED before leaving the building.
When we got a dumpster on 22nd street in NYC, there would be scrappers pulling up vans to see what we
were (literally) throwing in. It was great fun smashing the crap out of some of this old gear, but supremely
wasteful.
Another company had a sarbones oxley certified or whatever company cart stuff away in a big dumpster
(and we paid them) and do whatever it was they were certified to do. I took advantage and hauled away
some 30 machines for sale when nobody was looking since they weren't being tracked very well.
Thanks for the Christmas Bonus !!
I recommend to the companies I have worked for that they give the old equipment to their employees. Decommissioned laptops and desktops are often of better quality that the stuff their employees have at home. By giving it to the employees the company benefits in several ways. Usually the employees are grateful and the process builds goodwill. Exception here is when all the good stuff is given to hand picked special employees creating great resentment and discontent within the ranks. Donated to employees equipment gives the company a positive return as the employee work on the system at home they tend to learn new things... This new knowledge is brought back to work and didn't cost the company's training budget. Donated equipment doesn't have a disposal cost. This can reduce employee theft or borrowing. All in all it is well worth a company looking into. It is also important to ensure the employees sign the relevant documents to release the company of liability... given half a chance the lawyers will put a stop to anything good.
In the neighborhood that I grew up in, the neighborhood kids would often ride around on their bikes on trash day, looking for interesting stuff that had been thrown out. Most of the residents just ignored us, but occasionally, you'd get someone yelling "hey! stay out of my trash!", for reasons that at the time weren't totally clear to me. Of course, given that we sometimes found pornography, or on one memorable occasion, a printing plate with the image of a dollar bill on it, I can see why some of the neighbors might be nervous.
... for certain tool kits one might find in Home Depot or Lowe's. You know the ones I mean: the package boasts "200 Pieces", but that includes EVERY little niggling bit of material in the box.
Sure, if this guy took old equipment, e.g. a Sun 1 workstation, the gov't will always classify something of some monetary value (i.e. $6).
But if the gov't went to collect that value, would anyone buy it? Answer: No. It would cost the gov't money to get rid of it--negative value I say. Really, I'd bet most of the equipment he has is old and obsolete--sure someone can apply some value to it, but being obsolete technology--it's true value is $0.
So, if the guy took old equipment, he's saving them money.
If the guy took new equipment, then that's theft.
n/m
Sentencing is set for December when Papagno could face up to two years in jail for the thefts.
Luckily for him he merely stole the machines, instead of broke into them.
He'd be facing 5 years for that.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Morals? Dude, the fact that you're even worrying about that means you actually HAVE morals. I see little-to-no problem with your actions; discarded goods turns rapidly into a finders-keepers kind of scenario.
The only area where you might change things is, (if you hold any love or loyalty to your employer), to try to explain to somebody in higher management that you could be better employed as a computer parts re-seller, or perhaps to lose those two people you described who are basically responsible for spending company money so wastefully.
Also, I'd be very careful, as you probably are, to make sure that any and all items taken are not going to be later noticed missing from any lists. It sounds like they're not; the take-away companies don't sound like they track stuff very well. Because if somebody ever does pin you down, then you could very easily wind up like the guy in the linked story. Jailed. All it takes is a security camera to notice you hauling gear to your car several times over the course of a year, or some suspicious employees given a secret directive to track your actions for a period of time. The trick to successful 'keeping' is knowing when to quit, or transform the activity into something legal.
As a kid, I once stole a lot of money from my employer. I won't describe how, but it was mostly to see if a very clever idea was really all that clever. Turns out it was. I should also add that my employer was a well-respected bottom feeder; every penny they made was done by exploiting the baser human instincts. Kinda like today's story about the scareware vendors. I hated working for them, and felt very justified in my theft. But it WAS theft. There was no way I could argue, like you are able to, that it was a squishy kind of liberation of goods.
Now as clever as my scheme was, I knew that I couldn't get away with it more than a few times before somebody noticed a pattern. Once would be fine. Twice maybe. Three times would be pushing it, and four. . ?
So I knew to stop after doing it just once. The thing I noticed was that it took a gargantuan amount of will-power to actually only do it once. Nearly a cold-sweat kind of thing, but not quite. I remembered Columbo or somebody saying, "The criminal always returns to the scene of the crime," and realized what was being said. So will-power is the other key ingredient in successful crime. Never leave a pattern.
Also, there's another kind of payment you have to make. The fear of being caught, if valued in dollars, can become quite the expense. If I see an opportunity to steal from somebody who is richly deserving, I might go ahead and do it. But mostly, I don't care about money or wealth so long as I'm fed and sheltered, so the motivation generally has to be pretty unique. So long as you're having fun and you don't get lazy with it and ignore possible patterns, you should be okay. The moment greed takes over, then you're courting trouble, because that will sully your intentions, engaging your self-serving side. For some reason this always skews one's perceptive abilities, which means you can leave patterns and not notice it. Don't know why this is, but evil is always self-blinding.
Good luck!
-FL
In the environment I work in, taking stuff is not an option. Period. But if you're in an environment where it can happen, it's important not to abuse the unspoken privilage. Most of my family is or has been in the military and this kind of stuff is pretty normal. Sounds like he was either too comfortable taking things, or he was a clepto. Either way, the government can be fairly protective about anything labeled "computer equipment."
Isn't that where they practice omphaloskepsis?
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
I know of a combustion lab at a state university in NJ that wouldn't turn down a donation. Our lab advisor would rather use his money to make sure his grad students can eat rather than buy equipment that we don't absolutely need. It's actually been good for us because we've been forced to come up with creative solutions ourselves, rather than just buy equipment that would make the job easier. I'd understand if you turn down a cold-call beg for donations, but hey - it couldn't hurt to ask.
an accounting firm in San Jose in 2006, i was told how about part of the upgrade/replacement process. At this firm, which has thousands of employees globally dispersed, new employees getting laptops got new laptops. Existing employees who got new laptops on their own new-hire dates got jealous, because, after all, better laptop models come out almost weekly, and a guy with almost 3 years in the company could get upset because for accounting reasons they had to wait 3 years before being granted an upgrade. One *probably did* get jealous and "forgot" his laptop was behind his vehicle in his garage, and he "ran it over". It was in a U-shape. He probably thought he'd be forgiven, then given a NEW laptop. But, the company had disk images, built a new drive, and gave him the EXACT SAME MODEL from spares in the IT inventory. NOTHING left the company without having an active assignment logged. Even senior people were subjected to the upgrade/replacement policy. The company ensured the "fairness" of it by retaining a sufficient stock of spares of given, prevalent models to combat deliberate losing or deliberate destruction by those hoping to "cheat" or defeat the upgrade policy.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Watch out; the Russians are going to somehow get their hands on a hard drive containing data on submarine magnetohydrodynamic propulsion, adapt it to a (slightly) larger Typhoon-class sub, and confuse the hell out of Naval sonar techs with singing.
...he could steal printer toner without getting more than 20,000 pieces? Toner bits are really small! Sounds like the JAG really didn't want to get this guy.
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
I have actually worked on disposing old IT equipment in the military, so I can tell you for a fact that this speculation is wrong.
All computers and IT equipment (down to mice and thumb drives) are tracked on a company's property book. When the item comes up for life cycle replacement, it is wiped and turned into the Property Book Office. Everything that was ever on a property book has to be turned in this way, regardless of depreciation. A commander can write off a certain amount, but since it is always a challenge to stay under the limit, they in practice never throw stuff in a closet to be taken home by some IT dude.
Anyways, after the equipment gets turned in, it goes to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service. While this stuff sometimes shows up in auctions later on, realistically anything that can still be used gets sent to an ally (usually Iraq or Afghanistan these days) as military/civil service aid.
Military contractors, on the other hand, are a whole different ball of wax. You want to see some waste, allow me to introduce you to Honeywell.
weirdest thing I ever saw: scientology advertising on slashdot.
Stealing is not allowed.
After 3 days of tryal, he bought it with implicit intention to pay; pay is a colourable word, so it could mean his equal share of interest to the prior owner may be to purchase towards a controlling interest and the prior owner may still retain an interest in the product. Whatever note presented, even if oral, would result a lien in 30 days. After 90 days, supposedly the controlling interest would be recognized as his property outright, so any libel to salvage and recover said interest would be fraud and a secret War: notice I said war, in a transaction that was never Civil: use a notary to retain a civil authority, you or it is nothing more than violent mercenaries haggling over who can walk away with the most property. Slaves only loot because they are criminals for defect in their character, mercenaries are true to their word: commerce, for sale, pentateuch, 10 commandmendts, etc.
Doublespeak is your friend, so make use of a notary.
I conditionally accept for value your offer and conditionally agree, but upon proof of claim do I assent to this matter.
corporations can only see codified negotiability for their charter, so take note to just say "without prejudice" in authentic form and not the "UCC 1-207 without prejudice" or the recent "UCC 1-308 without prejudice" that it was changed to shank-off you parasite broken record-players behaving like attornies.
'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.
If I ever hear his song in the poolhall again, I'm sellin' that jewkbox and buying a band.
He got rid of $6 items that were cluttering up the area, and they didn't have to pay for disposal...
Now, how much will the gov't spend to prosecute this thief, and attempt to reclaim their $120K of stolen property? A half-million dollars?
Seems like a waste, but I guess they can't let the precedent stand.
Ken
"Actually, We got a whole bunch of junk out of our basement a similar strategy. We would put everything on the curb, and then I would put up a free stuff post with the ad with the address and some of the more cool stuff."
Hmmm. I wonder if that would work with the ex?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
Notmysig
Everyone that works in government steals in some form or fashion.
Whether it's a pen, or a *cough* sick day, or that Wireless N router that's "defective"....
When I was in the Army...Holy $hit...it was COMMON to have a CLOSET full of extra gear that was not paid for, but mysteriously showed up. That was more than 20 years ago, and I still have stuff in my closet!
He was just unfortunate enough to get caught.