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Instant Messaging Company Snap Threatens Jail Time for Leakers (cheddar.com)

Posted by msmash on from the my-way-or-highway dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Snap has a simple message to its employees: leak information and you could be sued or even jailed. The chief lawyer and general counsel of Snapchat's parent company, Michael O'Sullivan, sent a threatening memo to all employees last week just before The Daily Beast published an explosive story with confidential user metrics about how certain Snapchat features are used. "We have a zero-tolerance policy for those who leak Snap Inc. confidential information," O'Sullivan said in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Cheddar. "This applies to outright leaks and any informal 'off the record' conversations with reporters, as well as any confidential information you let slip to people who are not authorized to know that information."

92 comments

  1. What an asshole! by DaMattster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The leaking of information, at most, is a tort. It is not a crime and there will be no jail! Michael O'Sullivan is nothing more than a bully and how is this memo not work placement harassment!?

    1. Re: What an asshole! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, hard to see criminal prosecution but they could sue the pants off someone. Which is a bit less harsh than pants removal in prison, btw.

    2. Re:What an asshole! by swb · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm inclined to agree with you, and it sounds more like "Muh business is like the government and you go to jail!".

      That being said, just how bendy are the laws on corporate espionage, theft of information, etc? The problem isn't that this is basically a civil dispute between employer and employee, it's that Congress is all too willing to pass laws that criminalize these kinds of disputes and in the employer's favor.

      This makes it very convenient for corporations to use the FBI as their private enforcement arm and makes threats of criminal prosecution plausible if not real, especially if the employer does a good job with keeping up with their political subscriptions, er, contributions.

    3. Re:What an asshole! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2
      What if Snap.Inc has the ability to spoof the leakers' account send bomb threats or child pornography through the leaker's personal account and finger them to the Feds?

      What if the messages are actually archived and snap can rummage through the leakers communications and rat on them to the feds? Or out embarrassing personal info?

      How they will end up in jail will be communicated by word of mouth on unbuggable room?

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    4. Re:What an asshole! by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Fake corporate news, who knew?

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    5. Re:What an asshole! by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      The leaking of information, at most, is a tort. It is not a crime and there will be no jail!

      Never, regardless of the character of the information leaked? In every country in which Snapchat has users?

      It's easy to be cocky when your cockiness puts others at potential risk and not yourself. Are you willing to go to jail in the place of others who heed your faux legal advice and discover you were wrong?

    6. Re:What an asshole! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      corporations have twisted the computer hacking laws with a well funded DA to shut down whistle blowers before.

    7. Re:What an asshole! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm just speculating based on nothing in particular, but...

      Ostensibly Snap has employees in more authoritarian countries where the government might be a bit more amenable to punishing someone at Snap's request. Of course I would expect that sort of thing might be walking a very fine line with laws in the US like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Another possibility, is that Snap may have government contracts, and if an employee leaked info about one of those, the government could potentially come after them for leaking classified information. Of course in that scenario, Snap would also likely be on the hook for giving an employee without official security clearance access to classified data.

      That all said, this guy sounds like he was some Saul Goodman type lawyer who was on retainer by Snap when they were a tiny startup, probably for no other reason than he was cheap and local, and then found himself as the general counsel when the company hit it big because the people running the company were too inexperienced to know they need someone who is better at keeping themselves under control.

    8. Re:What an asshole! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good luck getting a Republican Congress to criminalize employees leaking info from a shitlib company. Just another danger in using your business for political purposes. Now you're in the game motherfucker, and you're gonna play whether you like it or not.

    9. Re:What an asshole! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They probably will, because the core belief of the Republican Party is that businesses can do no wrong. This happens even when logically it will hurt their party, such as when Comcast and NBC Universal merged (helping Hollywood which hates conservatives). Many businesses want illegals/visa workers as a cheap source of labor, but letting them in hurts American workers (and would spell doom for the party if amnesty passes).

    10. Re: What an asshole! by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      The law is a whore. The party with the most money wins.

    11. Re: What an asshole! by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Bossman just wants to make it clear that Snap will ONLY share confidential information with cops, persecutors, spies, advertisers, and mobsters. Under no circumstances will confidential information be shared with reporters!

  2. This has everything to do with Twitter by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This has everything to do with Snap not wanting to be "the next Twitter", where their idiot employees spout off on camera about their magic privacy-violating powers.

    e.g., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgyPpsX2B0g&t=3s

    1. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by postbigbang · · Score: 2

      Given your low ID#, I would imagine that your skin would be thick by now. A downvote can be a sign of great majesty on /. because of so many ill-advised or contrastingly, great reasons.

      Let's take a look at possible rationales for a downvote:

      1. You used the word "idiot" as a pejorative.
      2. Twitter employees might have modded you.
      3. Those sympathetic to twitter malaise in general modded you.
      4. I modded you, and now the mod will be undone.
      5. You were perceived as being boorish.
      6. There might be empathy for Snap employees, causing a mod backlash.
      7. There might be empathy for twitter employees, see #6.

      Downvotes on social media are like (please excuse me, Kurt Vonnetgut) like sparrow farts. They're not important, in the slightest.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by jelwell · · Score: 0

      Low? Lol. What are we at these days?
      Joseph Elwell.

    3. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Some have a decade of skin. Pioneers have the scar tissue of arrows in their backs. ;-)

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    4. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitching about downvotes = more downvotes.

    5. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by mrbester · · Score: 1

      I was late to the pioneer party, so my scar tissue due to arrows is in a different part of the body...

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    6. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      About 5 million. The latest three or four million appear to rarely post and suspiciously look like astroturf when they do. There's probably an automated system gaming slashdot, which is why moderation has gotten pretty wacky.

    7. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by Flea+of+Pain · · Score: 1

      I was once an esteemed Slashdot poster...then I caught an arrow in the knee.

      --
      Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
    8. Re:This has everything to do with Twitter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your post is probably correct but it's an opinion at this point, conjecture as it were. So there is no "truth" about it. Also we know you're a conservatard so your opinion's value is next to nil.

    9. Re: This has everything to do with Twitter by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      Memetic warfare, my brother.

  3. Leaking the leaker memo! by jelwell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What a perfect response, leak the memo threatening leakers. This is not going to end well for SNAP!
    A great company would simply remind employees that it's in their best interest not to leak information. This sounds like the flailings of a dying company.
    Joseph Elwell.

    1. Re:Leaking the leaker memo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is just inviting a Streisand Effect.

      Plus, how are they going to "jail" them? An NDA is a civil matter, and the worst they can do is get a court order telling someone to shut up, and maybe sue them for RIAA-level damages. However, unless there was government data or PHI involved in the leak, (IMHO), this is just bluster.

    2. Re:Leaking the leaker memo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is there a number embedded in the email text, e.g "We had 3,000,042 new subscribers just in the past month..."? Better redact those before leaking it, in case the "broadcast" email was numbered.

    3. Re:Leaking the leaker memo! by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      A great company would simply remind employees that it's in their best interest not to leak information.

      That's what they did, they just didn't sugar coat it for the easily offended.

    4. Re: Leaking the leaker memo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lick those boots!

  4. don't like it quit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tough.. wah wah wah cry babies. if you don't like it leave.

    1. Re:don't like it quit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...if you don't like it leave.

      Thanks, Blake.

  5. Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Snap's going to have fun filling positions. Who wants to work in that type of environment?

    1. Re:Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Honest employees who are OK with the salary and OK with doing their job instead of using it as a leverage to sell private information that does not belong to them.

      This is a policy that is fully enforced at banks, are followed by employees and that anyone consider as standard. So telcos folloow the same way.

    2. Re:Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This.

      The whole point of this memo is not to threaten current employees or employees genuinely interested in working for the company, but rather to discourage salters and saboteurs from trying to gain employment in the company so they can plunder it for their own personal gain.

    3. Re:Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is far more than trade secrets. I wouldn't want to work at a place where I'm worried that a casual slip trivial information may get me lawyers knocking at my door.

    4. Re:Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You realize that if you work in IT that deals with any banks, credit unions or fed branches you already do, right? I'd really suggest you go over your HR agreements. You'll no doubt find yourself surprised.

    5. Re:Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi,

      You're displaying a serf attitude. Please stop that. The point of the OP is that the environment resembles a master/slave workplace, where the employer distrusts the employee, and has to beat them into submission to get them to work.

      Telling your wife what you work on shouldn't be a fire-able or prosecutable offense at anywhere but an actual intelligence agency, which Snap is most certainly not.

    6. Re:Great recruitment policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, this part really is not:
      > any confidential information you let slip to people who are not authorized to know that information

      Probably you can put it down to bad writing, but threatening employees with jail for accidentally mentioning something they should not? As written, that would even include towards other employees!
      But anyway, the bigger point is this is in my opinion written in a very hostile way, which is simply not appropriate, and I very much don't think that's the way it is usually done.

  6. If you can't trust your employees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you can't trust your employees, you are not paying them enough.

    1. Re:If you can't trust your employees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's never about just pay. I'll bet $10 upper management are assholes.

    2. Re:If you can't trust your employees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Certainly the general counsel is.

  7. Revealing confidential information may be a crime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See for example Cal. Penal Code Section 499c

  8. Channeling Steve Jobs? by ErichTheRed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm surprised the CEO isn't appearing on stage in black turtlenecks and jeans.

    This just sounds like a paranoid, in-over-his-head dotcom era CEO running the place like his own personal empire. He's just trying to mimic the Steve Jobs personality...intense secrecy on products, over-the-top asshole personality, etc... So many people I've dealt with in executive positions are like this -- it's like they read a book in the airport bookstore telling them they need to act exactly like this CEO or that CEO, and just latch onto it for dear life, trying as hard as possible to pull it off.

    1. Re:Channeling Steve Jobs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since you're repeating things you've only heard, I can tell you never actually met or worked with Jobs.

      Just gossip and rumors now, eh? Grow up.

    2. Re:Channeling Steve Jobs? by swell · · Score: 1

      Secrecy is important to the bottom line of a creative corporation. A computer company that makes clones using generic parts has no need of secrecy. A company that actually invests heavily in new ideas has an interest in secrecy. They need time to test and validate those ideas before presenting them to market in a useful form. Leaks to competitors are a serious problem and they must take many precautions against that. Untimely leaks to the public can damage their marketing plan also creating a financial loss.

      A CEO has only one responsibility in a US corporation: to maximize return to shareholders. If he fails to consider such costs he does not deserve the position.

      --
      ...omphaloskepsis often...
    3. Re:Channeling Steve Jobs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since you're repeating things you've only heard, I can tell you never actually met or worked with Jobs.

      Just gossip and rumors now, eh? Grow up.

      As someone who did work with Steve Jobs, I can assure you the grandparent poster was essentially correct.
      No, he wasn't an egotistical asshole all the time, but he was one often enough that you would be a bit on edge around him.
      He mellowed out a little more in his later days; most stories about him were real events mostly from the 80s and 90s.

  9. yes criminal by cstacy · · Score: 1

    If you leak Snap Inc. information, you will lose your job and we will pursue any and all legal remedies against you. And that’s just the start. You can face personal financial liability even if you yourself did not benefit from the leaked information. The government, our investors, and other third parties can also seek their own remedies against you for what you disclosed. The government can even put you in jail.

    People here keep saying that theft of trade secrets is only a tort, but that's not correct. Short answer: U.S.C. 1831, 15 years in prison.

    Theft (or "misappropriation") of trade secrets is indeed a tort. We have The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which only allows for civil actions, and only for actual damages that can be proved. (Loss of revenue or unfair competition are not recoverable.) California also has a law after the model Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which also makes misappropriation of secrets a tort (no computer needed). Finally, there is federal level Economic Espionage Act of 1996, and that one DOES come with a potential prison term of up to 15 years.

    1. Re:yes criminal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The bar for federal criminal prosecution is *really* high. "benefit a foreign power" and "actual damages to the corporation" sort of high. Not the sort of high that O'Sullivan clearly was when he wrote that over-the-top memo to bully Snap's employees.

    2. Re:yes criminal by SirGarlon · · Score: 1

      Listen to parent. There plenty of applicable laws; it's justice that is in short supply. Remember Aaron Schwarz.

      --
      [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
    3. Re:yes criminal by mark-t · · Score: 3, Informative

      The economic espionage act requires that the misappropriated trade secrets would or could reasonly be used to benefit a foreign power... the scope for which it can apply is generally limited to confidential material maintained by the government itself.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  10. Moral building by PA23 · · Score: 1

    What a way to build company moral, threaten to have people thrown in jail.

    1. Re:Moral building by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's spelled 'morale'

  11. Twitter vs. Snap by DrYak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "the next Twitter", where their idiot employees spout off on camera about their magic privacy-violating powers.

    On the other hand, Twitter's entire goal is to broadcast you short message to everybody (micro-blogging), with direct messages being only a after-though bolted-on minor feature.
    There shouldn't be much expected privacy to begin with (the whole point of twitter is to not be private, but shout out loud).

    In short : Twitter is not the expected platform to send your dick pic, unless your goal *is* the whole planet to be subjected to it all the way to leaders in North Korea. (But please be aware that doing so might be an offense under your local jurisdiction)

    Whereas Snap has always tried to present it self as a "your ephemeral message are guaranteed to remain private and un-seen" type of company (with varying degrees of actually managing to put it into practice - remember the "pics actually remain in the temp folder" scandal).

    In short: Snap is (supposed to be) the platform where you can do all your sexting and expect that even the Mossad won't be aware of your and your s.o.'s intimate anatomies.

    Employee announcing to abuse their all-seeing privileges can have different implication on both platforms.

    And might be the ground on which the current assho^H... dictat^H... boss is trying to threaten with jail time:
    - if the specific leaks they are revealing is about all-seeing abuses, they might be implied to have access illegal-to-them content
    (e.g.: 2 european 15yo teens sexting with each other. Depending on the country it can be actually entirely legal. An employee bragging about tools to spy users' private messages could be suspected of having access nude pictures of said teens which is entirely illegal and a jailable offense in the US)

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  12. morale by jsepeta · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The beatings will continue until morale improves!

    --
    Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
    1. Re:morale by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always understood that to mean "the beatings will continue until my morale improves."

  13. Jail? by Holi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since when does a company have the ability to throw someone in jail?

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    1. Re:Jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since when does a company have the ability to throw someone in jail?

      They don't, and in the corporate context leaking of confidential information (unless it's insider trading) isn't a crime.

      This sounds like some asshole general counsel making threats he can't back up.

      Captcha: nonsense

      Indeed it is. This man has no legal authority to threaten jail time, he's full of shit.

    2. Re:Jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new to American justice.

    3. Re:Jail? by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 2

      I know actually reading TFA is a sign of weakness, but the memo doesn't claim that a company has the ability to throw someone in jail -- it simply points out that the government has that ability:

      If you leak Snap Inc. information, you will lose your job and we will pursue any and all legal remedies against you. And that’s just the start. You can face personal financial liability even if you yourself did not benefit from the leaked information. The government, our investors, and other third parties can also seek their own remedies against you for what you disclosed. The government can even put you in jail.

    4. Re:Jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Remember Aaron Schwartz.

    5. Re:Jail? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      it simply points out that the government has that ability:

      Yes of course the government has that ability. But do the ability to do so because you leaked company information? I'm not sure the courts would agree on that one.

    6. Re:Jail? by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      But do the ability to do so because you leaked company information? I'm not sure the courts would agree on that one.

      Courts already have agreed with that one. Here's but one recent example: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/...

    7. Re:Jail? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Nope. He wasn't jailed for leaking company information, he was jailed for insider trading a very different thing and a very real federal crime.

    8. Re:Jail? by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      He wasn't jailed for leaking company information, he was jailed for insider trading

      I'm not sure if you're trying to split hairs or didn't actually read the article. He made no trades -- he simply leaked the company information to someone who did:

      Kennedy passed along information on first quarter 2015 earnings figures before they became public to Maziar Rezakhani, the fraternity brother. Rezakhani turned around and bought 4,400 shares of Amazon stock for $1.7 million.

    9. Re:Jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thats how insider trading usually works.

    10. Re:Jail? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Splitting hairs is exactly what you need to do in this discussion, but they are HUGE hairs that you can split with an axe. There's a world of difference between leaking internal memos, leaking information on products and features, leaking user metrics which don't infringe privacy .... and leaking quarterly earnings report. Doing the former 3 is nothing more than a breach of contract with your employer and a tort law that could get you no more than sued. Doing the latter is facilitating insider trading and a federal crime.

    11. Re:Jail? by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      Ok... then you're admitting you made a way overbroad statement at the beginning and are now reluctantly walking it back. Glad to be of help. Have a great weekend.

    12. Re:Jail? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Nope not at all. You're conflating two very different issues I presume because you don't understand the very VERY important distinction. Leaking information from a private company is not a crime, period. What is a crime is intentionally leaking very specific information, in the hopes to affect trading prices in a way that allows profit to be gained from this information.

      The latter is a very tiny subset of info and also one that snapchat doesn't care about since the information that is likely to move the share price is information that needs to be legally disclosed anyway, kind of like in your linked example where the information that was leaked was nothing more than information that was made public a few days later anyway. For the company they don't care, the effect on them is identical. The SEC cares.

      This is why in the context of what we're discussing, no you won't go to jail, and no Snap can't put you in jail.

      Context matters.

      Context is the difference between you giving me $5 and I giving you a cigarette, and you giving me $5 and I giving you a joint. One was a contractual issue (like leaking information), the other is in most jurisdictions a criminal offence.

      Ok... then you're admitting you made a way overbroad statement at the beginning and are now reluctantly walking it back

      If that's what you get out of my post then your reading comprehension is even worse than I thought.

  14. Why stop at jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Have them executed

    1. Re:Why stop at jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The Kylo Ren School of Management at Stalin University. :-)

    2. Re: Why stop at jail? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TRUMP UNIVERSITY is more like it cocksucker! Staln didnt work for transnational corporations to destroy humanity's freedoms and ecology.

  15. All your memo belong to us by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    I don' t think these are military secrets. But, hey, you signed up.

    Free pingpong tables and lunches but even your silent but deadly farts, or 'careless whispers' in the company elevator, can get blown out of proportion.

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
    1. Re:All your memo belong to us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don' t think these are military secrets. But, hey, you signed up.

      Free pingpong tables and lunches but even your silent but deadly farts, or 'careless whispers' in the company elevator, can get blown out of proportion.

      Yeah, well, you don't want silent but deadly farts getting blown around. In or out of proportion.

  16. Sounds like a great place to work! by GerryGilmore · · Score: 1

    Where do I apply? I haven't treated like shit in a long time, so this sounds like the perfect place to satisfy my quota for quite some time!

  17. "Jailtime" is just so much noise, but.... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    .... it's hardly surprising that company can sue employees who violate an NDA.... at several places that I worked, all material distributed within the office was implicitly considered confidential, including memos, emails, and notices, unless there was an explicit disclaimer to the effect that it was not.

    Of course, such an NDA would not apply to anything which might have broken any actual laws... but that situation had never come up.in my experience.

    Other than spouting an empty threat about people who break their NDA going to jail, there's nothing new here. The guy should be cuffed upside the head for saying shit he clearly knows nothing about, but beyond that... no real news.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  18. Fake news. by Drunkulus · · Score: 1

    There has never been, and never will be, an explosive story about Snap. Mr. O'Sullivan is apparently suffering from delusions of grandeur.

  19. Non disclosure agreement being enforced by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    news at 11

  20. Just quit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My first reaction upon reading such a threat would be immediate resignation with no notice. My resignation letter would detail not wanting to be prosecuted for telling my wife what I did today (an "unauthorized person"). It's not worth it to work for an employer that threatens all their employees with prosecution and jailing.

    Snapchat isn't the freaking CIA. It sounds like this company is headed for the shitter right quick. Good riddance.

  21. I'm confused. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    Won't any leaked Snap(chat) information just disappear after a short time or being viewed?

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  22. Snowflakes complaining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OK the wording might be a bit terse, but seriously who expects to be able to leak confidential company information to the public and not face repercussions such as losing their job and facing legal action? If you have a problem with this you are in my opinion not worthy of being trusted with this kind of information in the first place, since you are a risk to the business whom you happily take a salary from. Grow up losers, and welcome to the real world.

    1. Re:Snowflakes complaining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The wording is severe asshole-level, and on top of it includes "letting slip". A normal person writing such an email would realize the reality that for example some employees are married and will occasionally talk to about work at home.
      Either they didn't even think of that case, or they are actually threatening employees to sue them over that (to warn about it is one thing and normal, but this is a different level).
      Sure, in reality they'd never find out and nothing would happen, but the attitude does not draw the picture of someone you'd want to work for if you have the choice.

  23. Leaks not theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The threats were about leaking (a person authorized to have the info discloses it to someone unauthorized) not theft (an unauthorized person breaks into a system and accesses the info). There are criminal statutes about leaks of government-classified info a la Snowden. If there's a criminal statute about leaks of regular business stuff from the private sector I'd like to see it.

  24. A CORPORATION THINKS ITS ABOVE EVERYONE ELSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shocking.

    Whats next? Water is wet?

    I hope his gardener is fucking this guy's wife right now.

  25. Is it not a crime... by HermMunster · · Score: 1

    Is it not a crime for a civilian to threaten jail? Are they not impersonating the police and courts? It is up to the authorities to make the determinarion to charge, prosecute, and try.

    --
    You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
  26. Old Ironsides by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone find it ironic that a memo threatening jail time for leaks got leaked to the press?

  27. Streisand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just curious, What are the leaks?

  28. Wow by easyTree · · Score: 1

    They have their own judges on staff?

    --
    Requiem for the American Dream
  29. If I received this memo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everything private that snapchat had would be online in about 10 minutes, and I'd be out of there faster than you can say chimichanga.

    When someone tells me not to do something and threatens punishment it's pretty much saying "DO this thing."

    Jerks.