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I agree that the entire Levandowski mess is completely Kalanick's fault. He was in completely control when he hired him, and presumably overincentivized him wi

I agree that the entire Levandowski mess is completely Kalanick's fault. He was in completely control when he hired him, and presumably overincentivized him with a $250 million pay package. But that's a completely different issue than the original point. The point is that there was no conspiracy to steal Waymo's trade secrets. There was no conspiracy to use Waymo's technologies in Uber self-driving cars, who already had hundreds of engineers and professors working on it for years. We don't know what the full conversation was between the two of them, but we do know from the article that once Kalanick knew that Levandowski had some sort of files, he told him to destroy it immediately and that he didn't want that to be used by Uber. I think that part is very clear.

_jal 9y ago
I do not know that there was no conspiracy, and neither do you unless you have nonpublic information. We have a very narrow slice of information that has been filtered through the legal process. Your particular slant on the story is great, enjoy. At least you've dropped the cheap media bashing; that was my primary point.
- pfarnsworth 9y ago
  You're no longer making any sense. I still believe the media is terribly biased. And this is Waymo's own testimony that Kalanick asked to destroy the documents once he found out about them. How could there be a conspiracy?
  - _jal 9y ago
    I'm done. This is a pointless discussion. I will answer the question: > How could there be a conspiracy? You're posting in multiple threads in this discussion; you couldn't have missed that many people in this thread have pointed out the obvious; it could be a wink and nod. "Honey, don't steal any jewelry from your job at PreciousGemCo. That would be wrong. You know how I do love my diamonds..." If you're unable to imagine other scenarios that fit the very few facts we have, (1) perhaps you can talk to a CPA, hacker, attorney, con-man, or someone else who is familiar with fraud that's more subtle than Three Card Monte. And, (2) I'd strongly suggest for your own good that you have someone you trust review any contracts you might want to sign.
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
Well, Kalanick told Levandowski to destroy the files immediately, and hired him knowing that he had taken the files from Waymo. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. He's so desperate to win at self-driving cars that he'll hire Levandowski, even though Levandowski has proven himself to be shady? He's "telling" Levandowski (with a wink) to destroy the files, really meaning "keep a copy at home, don't let it ever touch our work computers, but keep feeding us the information"? Or what? I guess, at a minimum, the fact that Uber tried to delay this information from getting into the court case means that it isn't innocent. (Or they're afraid that it looks bad enough that it's really going to cost them. But delaying disclosure makes it look bad, too...)
- toddball 9y ago
  > and hired him knowing that he had taken the files from Waymo. Google also bought 510 Systems, which was the company he founded while still working at Google. Levandowski proved himself to be shady at Google and Google not only didn't admonish him, they rewarded him by buying his side project he created while employed by Google. Clearly the man is talented enough that both companies decided it was worth overlooking his past actions. If what was reported today is true, Uber at the very least admonished Levandowski and told him to destroy what he had taken and that they had no interest in that material and not to bring it to Uber. Near as I can tell, the discovery process thus far has demonstrated that none of that material made its way to Uber. The only documents found reported thus far were some documents on a single personal laptop of one engineer. If any of Levandowski's documents had made their way to Uber, the discovery process would have found at least something given the number of keywords Google requested be searched for and the number of files searched. Right now, the only thing that appears in doubt here is if he ever actually destroyed documents. I agree he's likely culpable, but I still don't see any reason for Uber to be culpable of anything more than knowingly hiring someone with a past history of being unscrupulous, that Google also employed knowing full well he actively unscrupulous in their employ. It would be mighty ironic if Google was now sued by shareholders for negligence in how it had previously handled Levandowski.
  - _jal 9y ago

_jal 9y ago

I do not know that there was no conspiracy, and neither do you unless you have nonpublic information. We have a very narrow slice of information that has been filtered through the legal process. Your particular slant on the story is great, enjoy. At least you've dropped the cheap media bashing; that was my primary point.

pfarnsworth 9y ago
You're no longer making any sense. I still believe the media is terribly biased. And this is Waymo's own testimony that Kalanick asked to destroy the documents once he found out about them. How could there be a conspiracy?
- _jal 9y ago
  I'm done. This is a pointless discussion. I will answer the question: > How could there be a conspiracy? You're posting in multiple threads in this discussion; you couldn't have missed that many people in this thread have pointed out the obvious; it could be a wink and nod. "Honey, don't steal any jewelry from your job at PreciousGemCo. That would be wrong. You know how I do love my diamonds..." If you're unable to imagine other scenarios that fit the very few facts we have, (1) perhaps you can talk to a CPA, hacker, attorney, con-man, or someone else who is familiar with fraud that's more subtle than Three Card Monte. And, (2) I'd strongly suggest for your own good that you have someone you trust review any contracts you might want to sign.

AnimalMuppet 9y ago

Well, Kalanick told Levandowski to destroy the files immediately, and hired him knowing that he had taken the files from Waymo. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. He's so desperate to win at self-driving cars that he'll hire Levandowski, even though Levandowski has proven himself to be shady? He's "telling" Levandowski (with a wink) to destroy the files, really meaning "keep a copy at home, don't let it ever touch our work computers, but keep feeding us the information"? Or what? I guess, at a minimum, the fact that Uber tried to delay this information from getting into the court case means that it isn't innocent. (Or they're afraid that it looks bad enough that it's really going to cost them. But delaying disclosure makes it look bad, too...)

toddball 9y ago
> and hired him knowing that he had taken the files from Waymo. Google also bought 510 Systems, which was the company he founded while still working at Google. Levandowski proved himself to be shady at Google and Google not only didn't admonish him, they rewarded him by buying his side project he created while employed by Google. Clearly the man is talented enough that both companies decided it was worth overlooking his past actions. If what was reported today is true, Uber at the very least admonished Levandowski and told him to destroy what he had taken and that they had no interest in that material and not to bring it to Uber. Near as I can tell, the discovery process thus far has demonstrated that none of that material made its way to Uber. The only documents found reported thus far were some documents on a single personal laptop of one engineer. If any of Levandowski's documents had made their way to Uber, the discovery process would have found at least something given the number of keywords Google requested be searched for and the number of files searched. Right now, the only thing that appears in doubt here is if he ever actually destroyed documents. I agree he's likely culpable, but I still don't see any reason for Uber to be culpable of anything more than knowingly hiring someone with a past history of being unscrupulous, that Google also employed knowing full well he actively unscrupulous in their employ. It would be mighty ironic if Google was now sued by shareholders for negligence in how it had previously handled Levandowski.
- _jal 9y ago