3 ms·
At first I was thinkign "double jeopardy" but the article explains why that isn't the case. Basically the federal law was misapplied so the state of New York ca
by cletus 14y ago
At first I was thinkign "double jeopardy" but the article explains why that isn't the case. Basically the federal law was misapplied so the state of New York can bring their own charges (actually, they could probably do this anyway).
This does seem wrong to me because he's essentially being charged for much the same crime on the same set of facts. It seems like when the dual-sovereignty Federal-State system was created the idea was that that the Federal and State governments would be responsible for different things such that you would be violating either Federal or State law (or possibly both but for different offences).
This seems like prosecutorial abuse.
That all being said, if you consider the facts int his case: the code in question was highly sensitive and as much as the article calls the action of sending it to a server in Germany (IIRC) a "mistake", it seems fairly clear to me that it was or was intended to be theft.
Just don't take code from a former employer. Ever. This is a good rule of thumb for every engineer to follow,. Even if what you're doing isn't (likely to be) criminal conduct, you can then run afoul of copyright claims and so forth if you ever implement something similar.
- smashing 14y agoThe employer owns the copyrights, patents, etc. Just like a journalist can take articles or emails from a former employer, neither can scientists take materials from a work-for-hire position.
- jrockway 14y agoJust don't take code from a former employer. Ever. Or get your company's lawyercats to give you the OK.
- mcantelon 14y ago>This seems like prosecutorial abuse. Goldman gives a lot of money to political campaigns (#1 donor to Obama[1], #2 to Romney[2] in last election). NY mayor Michael Bloomberg seems to fawn over Goldman[3], offering $1.65B in tax breaks for them to set up an office at Ground Zero[4]. My guess is Goldman's gold, regardless of the means in which they've acquired it, is a significant factor to Manhattnan DA's sudden interest in prosecuting white collar crime. [1] http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638 [2] http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00000286 http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?id=N00000286 [3] http://www.salon.com/2012/03/16/mayor_bloomberg_personally_cheers_up_goldman_sachs/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/16/mayor_bloomberg_personally_c... [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg#Economic_issues http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg#Economic_issu...
- tedunangst 14y agoAnother example: Michael Vick was prosecuted in the state of Virginia for dogfighting. The primary evidence against him: his plea bargain with the federal prosecution.