5 ms·

I would think that the applicant pool would be limited to those who hadn't heard of (what they did to) Sergey Aleynikov. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_

I would think that the applicant pool would be limited to those who hadn't heard of (what they did to) Sergey Aleynikov. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Aleynikov http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Aleynikov .

carlchenet 12y ago
really interesting link thans, I always knew Erlang was a dangerous language ;)
icebraining 12y ago
Why? I don't intended to copy my code from my employer's machines to personal servers just before I leave, do you?
- gadders 12y ago
  All emails in Banks are monitored for people sending code now. I personally know of people that have been sacked for sending code to a personal email address.
- kasey_junk 12y ago
  Nope, but if I did, I would expect my employer to use civil means to deal with it. Not launch a multi-year, multi-jurisdiction criminal vendetta against me. The incident certainly gives me pause about working for them...
- byEngineer 12y ago
  Good. Because if you do by any chance you will spend many, many years in prison. You like that part too, right?
  - gd1 12y ago
    I don't think he cares, because as he says, he's not about to accept a job offer for $1.15 million at a rival firm then copy encrypted code out before he leaves.
  - melling 12y ago
    The guy was making $400k/year and taking his software to another firm where he was going to make well over $1m a year. Perhaps there was a good reason the company was so aggressive?
    - byEngineer 12y ago
      of course, great! Go work for them! Some people just love to be treated badly and that's why companies like GS still exist. Why to be treated nice and have higher salary when you can be treated like shit, earn 90k in NYC and end up in jail for many years for copying files around. Just join them!
      - melling 12y ago
        When you take something that's not yours, it's called stealing, and this will get you in trouble with many companies. A good company will not want you to bring your code because they might be libel. For example, Netscape had to rewrite their browser when UIUC threatened to sue them for using the Mosaic code. It's not just a Wall Street issue.
        dreamweapon 12y ago
        Except that Goldman didn't just "threaten to sue" Alyenikov. They called their pals down at the prosecutor's office, fed them a profusely exaggerated description of what he did -- and had him thrown in jail.
    - dreamweapon 12y ago
      The guy was ... taking his software to another firm where he was going to make well over $1m a year. That's the takeaway Goldman would like you to have -- that he was "making off with the crown jewels." Unfortunately, it was basically a concoction: turns out the code he took was quite innocuous, and offered no special business advantage. Yet out of either incompetence or vindictiveness, Goldman proffered the line that he had taken the "crown jewels". And that he should be hauled to jail, and have his reputation ruined and his marriage destroyed for it.
- dreamweapon 12y ago
  The point is that he was overzealously prosecuted for it. You might want to do some reading about the case; it was really quite awful and unfair, what happened to him.
- chrisbennet 12y ago
  A little background from reading "Flash Boys": Goldman uses open source code but then strips off the open source license and replaces it with their own - thus changing open source code into "proprietary" Goldman Sacks code. Sergey was not allowed to submit his open source code fixes back to the o.s. repositories because once G.S. violates the O.S. copy write, it is now magically "proprietary". In order to keep his fixes he was sending himself code that contained modified/improved/fixed open source - along with actual G.S. proprietary code. G.S. system was a "ball of rubber bands". Sergey was going to a new job where he would make a completely different system and had no use for Goldman's code. The cop investigating this was unfamiliar with software For example; he thought that Sergey's use of (the source control app) "subversion" was obviously something um subversive. He basically believed everything that G.S. told him. This (from another source) describes some of these items: http://cryptonomics.org/2013/09/08/goldman-sachs-v-russian-programmer/ http://cryptonomics.org/2013/09/08/goldman-sachs-v-russian-p...
  - icebraining 12y ago
    What the cop believed sounds irrelevant; he went to court and was convicted (and the later acquittance was on a technicality). The question of G.S. violating the OSS copyright is also not clear; usually, you can only violate copyright if you distribute software without a license. I'm not sure if removing the license on internal copies is legal, but no OS license I know of - not even the GPL - required them to share the changes back. I don't see any wrongdoing by GS part vis-a-vis OSS licenses, and as an employee, it wasn't his choice to make. Do I think the law is harsh? Yes. Would I do the same as GS? Certainly not. But as far as I'm concerned, he's conduct was in clear violation of the trust put on him as an employee (as he admitted), and it wouldn't influence my decision to join GS.

carlchenet 12y ago

really interesting link thans, I always knew Erlang was a dangerous language ;)

icebraining 12y ago

Why? I don't intended to copy my code from my employer's machines to personal servers just before I leave, do you?

gadders 12y ago
All emails in Banks are monitored for people sending code now. I personally know of people that have been sacked for sending code to a personal email address.
kasey_junk 12y ago
Nope, but if I did, I would expect my employer to use civil means to deal with it. Not launch a multi-year, multi-jurisdiction criminal vendetta against me. The incident certainly gives me pause about working for them...
byEngineer 12y ago
Good. Because if you do by any chance you will spend many, many years in prison. You like that part too, right?
- gd1 12y ago
  I don't think he cares, because as he says, he's not about to accept a job offer for $1.15 million at a rival firm then copy encrypted code out before he leaves.
- melling 12y ago
  The guy was making $400k/year and taking his software to another firm where he was going to make well over $1m a year. Perhaps there was a good reason the company was so aggressive?
  - byEngineer 12y ago
    of course, great! Go work for them! Some people just love to be treated badly and that's why companies like GS still exist. Why to be treated nice and have higher salary when you can be treated like shit, earn 90k in NYC and end up in jail for many years for copying files around. Just join them!
    - melling 12y ago
      When you take something that's not yours, it's called stealing, and this will get you in trouble with many companies. A good company will not want you to bring your code because they might be libel. For example, Netscape had to rewrite their browser when UIUC threatened to sue them for using the Mosaic code. It's not just a Wall Street issue.
      - dreamweapon 12y ago
        Except that Goldman didn't just "threaten to sue" Alyenikov. They called their pals down at the prosecutor's office, fed them a profusely exaggerated description of what he did -- and had him thrown in jail.
  - dreamweapon 12y ago
    The guy was ... taking his software to another firm where he was going to make well over $1m a year. That's the takeaway Goldman would like you to have -- that he was "making off with the crown jewels." Unfortunately, it was basically a concoction: turns out the code he took was quite innocuous, and offered no special business advantage. Yet out of either incompetence or vindictiveness, Goldman proffered the line that he had taken the "crown jewels". And that he should be hauled to jail, and have his reputation ruined and his marriage destroyed for it.
dreamweapon 12y ago
The point is that he was overzealously prosecuted for it. You might want to do some reading about the case; it was really quite awful and unfair, what happened to him.
chrisbennet 12y ago
A little background from reading "Flash Boys": Goldman uses open source code but then strips off the open source license and replaces it with their own - thus changing open source code into "proprietary" Goldman Sacks code. Sergey was not allowed to submit his open source code fixes back to the o.s. repositories because once G.S. violates the O.S. copy write, it is now magically "proprietary". In order to keep his fixes he was sending himself code that contained modified/improved/fixed open source - along with actual G.S. proprietary code. G.S. system was a "ball of rubber bands". Sergey was going to a new job where he would make a completely different system and had no use for Goldman's code. The cop investigating this was unfamiliar with software For example; he thought that Sergey's use of (the source control app) "subversion" was obviously something um subversive. He basically believed everything that G.S. told him. This (from another source) describes some of these items: http://cryptonomics.org/2013/09/08/goldman-sachs-v-russian-programmer/ http://cryptonomics.org/2013/09/08/goldman-sachs-v-russian-p...
- icebraining 12y ago
  What the cop believed sounds irrelevant; he went to court and was convicted (and the later acquittance was on a technicality). The question of G.S. violating the OSS copyright is also not clear; usually, you can only violate copyright if you distribute software without a license. I'm not sure if removing the license on internal copies is legal, but no OS license I know of - not even the GPL - required them to share the changes back. I don't see any wrongdoing by GS part vis-a-vis OSS licenses, and as an employee, it wasn't his choice to make. Do I think the law is harsh? Yes. Would I do the same as GS? Certainly not. But as far as I'm concerned, he's conduct was in clear violation of the trust put on him as an employee (as he admitted), and it wouldn't influence my decision to join GS.