> What if instead of downloading the code on his last day of work, he had downloaded it a few months earlier? What if he hadn't erased his shell history? It do

> What if instead of downloading the code on his last day of work, he had downloaded it a few months earlier? What if he hadn't erased his shell history? It doesn't really matter. By uploading the code, he committed numerous violations: breaking copyright, breaking confidentiality agreements, breaking the CFAA, etc. In his case, there is no valid copying. That he zapped his shell history is just a bunch of sugar showing that he knew what he was doing was wrong. That he did it upon the day he left for a new job gives him a financial motive for doing what he did. Both are just the icing on the cake; even if he didn't do either, he'd still be in deep shit just for uploading the code at all.