Black and white letter of the law, he should not have sent the modified Open Source programs home. The modifications really would be the employers property and

Black and white letter of the law, he should not have sent the modified Open Source programs home. The modifications really would be the employers property and the employer has all the power to release them. That said, he had been sending the files home to work on all along (before changing jobs) and never was EXPRESSLY TOLD to stop. That is why the original case would have been tossed as there was noillegal access" going on. The second case for sending secrets is closer to legit. But only because if you send secrets out at all, if you didn't have permission, it could be illegal. The REAL issue is font work for asshats that don't play nice. Alternately, accept that as a programmer mixing hobby Open Source projects with your Employment projects is a recipe for trouble.. Take their money and be a sucky leacher.. Or post your fixes to maintainers from home, reengineered solely at home with no files from work. As somebody who does admin work, its a great excuse just to not take work home at all unless its on my company laptop.