Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Ousts IE Mobile Manager For Revealing Nokia Phone Details
suraj.sun writes with an article in CNet concerning the axing of a Microsoft employee for revealing a few too many details about the upcoming Nokia Windows Phone. From the article: "...Joe Marini, who worked as a Seattle-based principal program manager on the Windows Phone team, tweeted: 'I just got a chance to try out one of the slickest looking #Nokia phones I have ever seen. Soon, you will too!' The tweet contained a Windows Phone 7 hashtag, #WP7. Marini sent subsequent tweets about the device, including one that rated it an '8' and another that said 'the camera was good, but I didn't have optimal lighting.' ... Marini stepped down after being informed that he would be let go for violating Microsoft's social-media and blogging policy (PDF). "
I couldn't find any specific thing in his tweets that would justify firing the man.
It's a shame that Nokia, a phone company with the best hardware, is working so hard to provide us their great hardware with the worst possible software. What I would really like to see is Nokia handsets with Android system. They would sell like there was no yesterday. Do you hear me Nokia?
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
It's not even particularly new for companies to be super paranoid about "leaks", and to interpret what constitutes a leak very broadly. Apple is probably more paranoid, for example, and Apple employees tend to just avoid Tweeting anything Apple-related for that reason.
I do agree that this was stupid, unless there's something more to the story; it doesn't appear that he actually leaked anything that could plausibly be considered secret, and certainly not any interesting secrets.
I also like the now-self-referential part of the policy that recommends employees think, before they take an action online:
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Don’t post anything marked “Confidential,” “Proprietary,” or “Privileged” or material from any internal corporate emails, web pages or documents (including these FAQs).
So... who posted the FAQs?
He did it on purpose and will take what he knows elsewhere.
From the Blogging FAQ:
Microsoft considers Slashdot to be on the same level as the New York Times! The Ironic thing is the original tweet did not make slashdot. The reaction from Microsoft did.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I read through most of the policy and given the nature of his tweets, it seems a reach to fire the guy.
Can I disclose confidential information when blogging? ... ...
Most importantly, to preserve Microsoft’s rights to protect its innovations through
patents, do not disclose or describe any new features, functionalities, or
innovations that have not been publicly disclosed or released without first
checking with your business unit management or your LCA patent contact
This section mentions not revealing new features, but from what was broadcast, he did not reveal anything specific nor anything that was not already basically understood. I could see getting a reprimand, held back from promotion type of punishment, but to just say "bugger off" for making positive comments about a MS product? ULM is not weird, their stupid. This could have been turned into a marketing scoop, getting the lemmings talking about it and perhaps now wanting to try it out. Since we don't know much about the man as an employee, perhaps he was horrible as a manager and they just needed a reason to boot his butt out. My sense, they just took what could have been both a teaching moment for employees and a marketing bonazza into more negative PR for an already tarnished image.
Bad form Microsoft, bad form.
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
If so, good riddance!
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Just Microsoft's latest attempt to imitate Apple. In this case we're talking about marketing: build excitement about a new product no one has seen by creating controversy with a "leak" and a possible firing. Only Apple did it with more style, as you'd expect, leaving a disguised iPhone 4 prototype in a bar. I guess it's cheaper, cleaner, and more AstroTurf-like (in the 90s MS paid a bunch of economics professors to form a group and write letters saying the antitrust trial was bad for the economy?) to have one of your employees make some vague statements about how awesome an unreleased product (for which there is very little demand) is, then fire him. I wonder how large his severence package was, or if he was already planning on leaving.
Now they have more publicity for their upcoming phone. Well played.
It's purely speculation, but one would think that Microsoft would simply reprimand its employee in these circumstances. However, Nokia and Microsoft undoubtedly have a confidentiality agreement -- to try desperately to protect Nokia's existing handset sales -- and perhaps Nokia insisted on Marini's scalp. Few if any people like working in a "police state" environment, though. I wonder how this firing will affect the Windows Phone development team's morale.
If he was under an NDA, he's lucky he didn't get fined, possible jail time.
Capitalism
vs
Socialiam
ok, I work there, so this is firsthand information. In the last 4 months it has been beat into us NOT to tweet/talk/post/facebook anything about anything not yet released. It all started around the MGX leaks of the past, feeding into the WP7 announcements, and the recent Win8 announcements. We are not to even tweet anything that has been recently released. (Win8). An entirely new program has been developed around the new social medis policies, and people are going to the HR training for it. There is no way you can miss all of the warnings and decrees from on high about this. Sorry, a very important rule was broken. He is being made the example. Sucks, but don't break important rules.
This is a non-story.
Microsoft employee violated company policy about blogging by posting details about the phone. Employee was going to be fired for violating the policy. It doesn't matter if the violation was benign or not. The only reasons this is on slashdot is because
A. The story is about Microsoft.
B. It's about company policies perhaps being "unfair".
I think it's mostly A and very little B.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
This is possibly the most boring story slashdot has ever posted.
Most likely, there are unseen contracts between Nokia and Microsoft that forbid any mention of new products before release. Such things have happened before when the iPhone was first released - an AT&T manager was let go for saying that it was "great."
I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
If he was under an NDA, he's lucky he didn't get fined, possible jail time.
NDA is a contract, in this case part of the employment contract. You can't get jail time or a fine for breach of employment contract. You can, and this guy did, lose your job for breach of employment contract.
As sibling said - an NDA is a civil affair, not a criminal one. The only types of NDA that could possibly land you in jail or in fines over violation would be for a government security clearance.
The worst that can happen in this case? The guy could get sued by the company, and they would have a hard time getting much of anything out of him for the effort spent. That's it.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
You should apply to be an editor. I'm not being a smartass. I'm serious.
No Operating Knowledge of Ideas like Android
I8-D
Microsoft has been burned too many times in the past when there are "unauthorized" disclosures about company directions, plans, features, etc.
Suppose we talk about a feature or capability that ends up not shipping? That erodes enthusiasm for the product, it ruins customer relationships, it hurts the bottom line of partners and competitors alike.
There are other aspects of this, like marketing/advertising people who, say what you will about them, try to figure out how to manage information disclosures in such a way so as to generate maximum buzz, excitement, etc. They think about the right schedule, what to disclose when, where it should hit first, etc.
We have no steve jobs and attendant RDF; accordingly we have to pay people to think of how to make things like compilers and word processors sound exciting. That's an art in and of itself. And well intentioned employees who are excited about what they are working on or what the company is doing can throw a tremendous wrench in all of that.
The employees generally have lots of enthusiasm about what they're working on, and so it is incredibly frustrating for us to read stuff here (and elsewhere) that we can share some expertise on and address questions, concerns, falsehoods -- whatever. But we just have to wait until the bits are out there, and then the queued up blog posts and other stuff start coming in rapid succession.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Firing him is a logical consequence. Why anyone in IT would not know about the Osborne effect or completely ignore it baffles me.
Harmless speech.... Hmm.. Reminds me of some post in the past about teachers and students talking on facebook in a harmless way...
Doesn't matter if it's harmless or not, unfortunately. If it 100% legally, documentationally (my new word of the day) correct to higher-ups, it's a danger element in the game of business. I wish people would loosen up more, but loose speech = blame and suits (all definitions of the word).
is it something spectacular or the opposite. From a company which released beta's like handing our Halloween candy they sure seem to have move to the paranoid side.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Totally. It reminds me of another recent Slashdot Article:
Justification For Canadian Copyright Reform Revealed
The only reason that's on slashdot is because
A. The story is about copyright
B. Canada
Most people would say it's primarily because of A. But I blame Canada.
replace "if it 100%" with "if it isn't 100%".
Actually, they could press charges for breach of contract. It's rare, but possible.
Siblings are mostly correct. You normally can't get jail time for violating an NDA. However, you can if it constitutes fraud; if you sign the NDA knowing or expecting to violate it and it causes actual loss to the company, in order to receive some compensation or benefit.
However, this was clearly not premeditated or fraudulent. Merely careless..
I would say that story at least has more validity to be on Slashdot than this one. It does involve the distribution of the document about how the Canadian government was responding to copyright among other things. It basically presented a FAQ that wasn't normally available.
This story is just....
I blogged!
I got fired because I blogged in violation of company confidentiality policy!
Is there any other substance to it? Not really. Maybe that they guy gave some favorable opinions about WP7.
As far as stories go, this is the same vein as an "Ask Slashdot" story. The content is pretty much solely generated through the comments on the "story".
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
I thank you for your compliment. At least I'm taking it as a compliment.
You're basically telling me I'm probably better than the current crop of Slashdot editors. Given the general nature of the comments on Slashdot regarding the editors that doesn't seem to be too hard of a bar to surpass.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Bill Gates.
This guy was an insider and revealed information that was not public knowledge. You don't have to trade on insider information to be charged under insider trading laws and the information that you leaks does not have to belong to your employer. If you leak information about a client, supplier or business partner you can be charged with insider trading. The SEC could also potentially fine MSFT for the actions of this employee.
Rumours and leaks might be "popular" but improperly disclosing non-public information can get you fired or jail time and it can damage the reputation of your company with regulators.
I'm shocked that nobody else hear caught onto this. Anyone working for a publicly traded company should know this.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Other companys pay people to do this type of 'revealing'.
Disclaimer: This is all IMHO, of course.
It looks bad to those with a hint of intelligence to have any evidence that it was a paid move.
It looks a lot more true w/ a dash of subconscious advertisement when you play it as a violation of company secrecy or other policy. Tech geeks are more likely to take this seriously than a typical paid advertisement or revelation. We read between the lines, but sometimes we forget to read between the lines that are between the lines.
All just speculation, but it works. I'm just throwin' it out there.
How good are you at hating companies you hate, loving the ones you love, and seeing vast canyons of difference between the two where only blurred lines exist?
Bonus points if you think Android is a panacea of "free" and "open" :)
Maybe just a convenient way to get rid of a poor performer...
It is absolutely ridiculous that some would get fired for making such benign tweets.
The guy got fired because he "criticised" the phone. Period full stop. He gave it an 8 and said it needed a bigger screen. Shit companies like MS don't tolerate anyone not towing the company line.
-- Windows(TM) Welcome to the sea of piss.
The SEC could also potentially fine MSFT for the actions of this employee.
i'm not sure the SEC would care since the information was made public. the SEC cares if information exits the company but does not enter the public domain.
No, it's not. What's ridiculous is breaking company policy and revealing information about unreleased products.
This guy was an insider and revealed information that was not public knowledge. You don't have to trade on insider information to be charged under insider trading laws and the information that you leaks does not have to belong to your employer. If you leak information about a client, supplier or business partner you can be charged with insider trading. The SEC could also potentially fine MSFT for the actions of this employee.
Rumours and leaks might be "popular" but improperly disclosing non-public information can get you fired or jail time and it can damage the reputation of your company with regulators.
I'm shocked that nobody else hear caught onto this. Anyone working for a publicly traded company should know this.
I am a securities lawyer, and this is terribly misguided information.
This guy was an insider and revealed information that was not public knowledge. You don't have to trade on insider information to be charged under insider trading laws and the information that you leaks does not have to belong to your employer. If you leak information about a client, supplier or business partner you can be charged with insider trading. The SEC could also potentially fine MSFT for the actions of this employee.
Rumours and leaks might be "popular" but improperly disclosing non-public information can get you fired or jail time and it can damage the reputation of your company with regulators.
I'm shocked that nobody else hear caught onto this. Anyone working for a publicly traded company should know this.
I am a securities lawyer, and this is terribly misguided information.
Is it really? Please explain. What constitutes publishing it? Is letting some of your friends know at a party about a hot tip considered publishing in the same way as a twitter post? Does this guy not deserve to get fired for leaking information about a business partner's device without permission of either their employer or Nokia?
I'd really like for you to enlighten us all. Please do so.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
The SEC could also potentially fine MSFT for the actions of this employee.
i'm not sure the SEC would care since the information was made public. the SEC cares if information exits the company but does not enter the public domain.
The information was not made public, it was leaked by an unauthorized person. Making something public would involve an official press release. Acting on inside information would require the insider waiting for not only for the press release to go out but allowing enough time for the public to absorb the information to avoid insider trading.
Say that you work for a company and you know about a new product or initiative. As an insider, you would not be allowed to trade on that information until a press release was put out by your company and the public had sufficient time to absorb the news. That time would usually be about a day or so. Acting on the info right after the release of the press announcement could still be considered insider trading.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.