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I used to work for Anthony at 510 systems. He tried to hire me for Otto as well. Watching this whole thing unfold from, obscure story in 2011 to the Waymo Vs. U
by uuilly 7y ago
I used to work for Anthony at 510 systems. He tried to hire me for Otto as well. Watching this whole thing unfold from, obscure story in 2011 to the Waymo Vs. Uber trial to federal charges and national news is rather surreal. Anthony is one of the most creative, energetic thinkers I've ever encountered. If he stopped taking shortcuts he'd probably be the next Jobs or Musk.
- AndrewBissell 7y agoMusk will be the next Levandowski.
- dmix 7y agoPeople have such an impetus for Musk's downfall but a few off colour or poorly thought out tweets is nothing compared to something as criminal as downloading everything from your company before starting a competitor. Or worse while you work on the competitor on the side even before leaving the company. Anthony should have known that files are easily tracked in a place like Google and that he'd put a giant spotlight on himself by competing with Google's future golden goose.
- AndrewBissell 7y agoAll pretty pale in comparison to a faked $75 billion buyout tweeted out during market trading hours. Or the blatant self-dealing and faked product unveil used to push through the SolarCity bailout.
- whatok 7y agoI'm pretty sure people criticize Elon for more than just a few Tweets.
- bduerst 7y agoYeah, Musk never stole competitor IP, so the comparison is a bit banal. If anything, Musk's undoing will be how he has handled Tesla, such as his nepotist SolarCity acquisition.
- Judgmentality 7y agoThere are a lot more problems with Musk's conduct than a few tweets. Just yesterday there was a post on the front page of HN effectively accusing him of nepotism and saving his family's dying business and merging it with Tesla. There is still a lot of controversy over the marketing/state of Autopilot. There are whistle blowers claiming unsafe working conditions at Tesla and Musk censoring/firing anyone who is pro union. The list goes on. I'm not saying Musk hasn't created some impressive companies or that he is bound to fail - but he is not without controversy.
- dmix 7y agoWhat does that have to do with Anthony getting arrested? I wasn't comparing how controversial they are on Twitter. So far the worst thing that has happened to Musk legally is some dropped SEC charges and new controls for one of his companies. The Solarcity deal isn't being investigated by authorities and was approved by 85% of shareholders in 2016, where its connection to his cousins was well known. Otherwise none of what you listed is illegal or in the same ballpark as what Anthony did.
- Judgmentality 7y ago> People have such an impetus for Musk's downfall but a few off colour or poorly thought out tweets is nothing compared to... I thought we were talking about questionable characteristics of these people and how it might lead to their downfall. I could easily see Elon Musk get sued for unsafe working conditions from years ago, or a fraudulent claim about Autopilot's capability, or for libel by attacking people unnecessarily on twitter (accusing a diver of being a pedophile is pretty fucking weird). I remember talking to extremely well-paid lawyers in the industry before the Alphabet vs. Uber case saying there was nothing they could do to Levandowski. Let's circle back in 5 years and see how Musk is doing then.
- TuringNYC 7y agoFrom what I can see, Musk took tremendous risks with his wealth and time and is reaping rewards from it. It is one thing to be rewarded for your risks (good) — it is another thing to be rewards for other people’s risks and work.
- bksenior 7y agoHah! Jobs and Musk are walking shortcuts. Anthony's biggest mistake is that he got caught by a corporation motivated to pursue.
- paul7986 7y agoA corporation (Google) who steals IP themselves. They steal from big fish to the little dreamers they inspired and such is well documented. See this popular HN thread... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18566929 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18566929 I use to feel bad for Google and wanted this thief to face justice. But umm he's just doing what he witnessed and was taught(told) to do while working for the big G.
- cwkoss 7y agoAlso, Youtube facilitates IP trolls stealing revenue from creators on a massive scale.
- coldtea 7y ago>If he stopped taking shortcuts he'd probably be the next Jobs or Musk. Didn't these ended up where they are by taking all kinds of shortcuts?
- TCR19 7y ago"Good artists copy, Great artists steal" or something along those lines.
- ScottFree 7y agoWhat shortcuts did they take? Maybe the key is knowing which shortcuts.
- microtherion 7y agoA pretty big one was the options backdating scandal at Apple: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-obituary-the-backdated-options-scandal/#6d70c817632e https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/10/06/steve-jo...
- cbanek 7y agoAsk the SEC.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- pb7 7y agoLame retort. Let's do better.
- methehack 7y agoThat's tragic and awful. I think calling this a "shortcut" though is misleading, at least from what the times is reporting here. It's one thing to own your own brain, it's another take 14K files, including circuit board designs and lidar designs. It's yet another to start using them at new-co that is a direct competitor to old-co. I'm by no means an IP fanatic, but that really does cross over to theft in my mind. But, on balance, the very specific details really matter here, so we'll see...
- magduf 7y agoTaking PCB design files and using them at a competing company absolutely is IP theft. I'm honestly surprised anyone would think they could even get away with this; the old company just has to get their hands on one of the competitor's units and open it up and look at it.
- ZhuanXia 7y agoMany of us do not believe IP is a legitimate property right.
- magduf 7y agoMany people think the Earth is flat. What's your point?
- mcny 7y ago> Taking PCB design files and using them at a competing company absolutely is IP theft. I'm honestly surprised anyone would think they could even get away with this; the old company just has to get their hands on one of the competitor's units and open it up and look at it. I am not a Google employee but my understanding is that the biggest fear is not that Anthony Levandowski stole all the stuff but that Uber or another unscrupulous company would race ahead with inadequate self-driving causing a backlash that would bring down a legislative ban hammer on everyone, including Waymo. I think that is the real danger here. Personally, I don't want Anthony Levandowski in prison. I just want him or people like him to not be able to work on self-driving cars. I want self-driving cars to arrive and will gladly campaign to ban humans from being able to drive on public road when that day arrives.
- pslam 7y agoI have no idea about this guy, but in my experience, people like this always seem to be pleasant, creative types on the outside. Every now and then in conversation they hold weird viewpoints you just can't reconcile with their projected image, and wonder if you've misjudged them. They usually turn out to have an underlying wonky or absent moral compass, and abusive personality traits. The outward image is a confidence trick, and that's how they got where they are.
- CalChris 7y agoLewandowski evidently was very creative. I don't think that's in any doubt. His Google Maps work is genius.
- chubbyrabbit 7y agoI can tell from the goals he scored as well.
- monktastic1 7y agoFormer coworker of his here. As anyone who knew him well will attest, his favorite quote (from his favorite character) was "I drink your milkshake." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5d9BrLN5K4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5d9BrLN5K4 There's more to say, but I'm not sure it's worth sharing on HN.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- paxys 7y agoI feel like calling this a "shortcut" is putting it a bit mildly. He just got criminally indicted.