Posted on 07/09/2004 9:40:33 PM PDT by HAL9000
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Microsoft Corp. employee working on the world's largest software maker's search initiative was arrested last week on charges that he stole source code from the AltaVista search engine two years ago, authorities said on Friday.Laurent Chavet, a former AltaVista employee, was charged with accessing the company's computers in 2002 after he was no longer employed by the Web search provider but before he was hired by Microsoft, according to an FBI affidavit in an indictment issued by the U.S. District Court of Northern California.
Sunnyvale, California-based AltaVista was bought by online search advertising provider Overture Services Inc., which in turn was bought by Web portal Yahoo Inc. last year.
Microsoft is beefing up its search technology to take on Google Inc., the Web's No. 1 search provider, and has a team at its MSN division working on algorithmic search technology.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on Friday that Chavet, a French citizen, was working on MSN's search effort.
Microsoft spokeswoman Tami Begasse confirmed that Chavet, 29, worked at the Redmond, Washington-based company but declined to say what division he worked for or whether there was an ongoing internal investigation.
"We are confident of policies and procedures we have in place to protect the integrity of our code," Begasse said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Sonderby, chief of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit in Northern California, would not comment on whether there was a separate investigation into whether Chavet used any AltaVista technology at Microsoft.
"The indictment does not pertain to Microsoft," Sonderby said.
A spokesman for Yahoo, which now owns AltaVista through its Overture acquisition, declined to comment.
The indictment says that Chavet accessed AltaVista's computer system in March of 2002 and June of 2002, after he had quit the company. After appearing in a Seattle court last week and released on a $10,000 bond, Chavet is scheduled to be arraigned in San Francisco on July 20.
Has anyone reported Microsoft to the Software Business Alliance? I thought the premise was that the employer was responsible for anything on the company computers.
Note that the key here is that he did it BEFORE being hired by Microsoft... He wasn't an employee of Microsoft when he did it... Just thought I'd point that out, even though it won't matter a bit to the MS-haters.
SO, where, exactly, do you see ANYTHING that indicates this stolen source code is on any Microsoft-owned computer?
Are you reading the same article I am?
Microsoft will get rid of him - but keep the source code.
Suspect in AltaVista hacking case works at Microsoft
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERA Kirkland man arrested last week on allegations that he stole proprietary technology from the AltaVista search engine two years ago is a Microsoft Corp. employee who has been working on the Redmond company's MSN Search initiative.
Federal authorities allege that Laurent Chavet, a former AltaVista employee, illegally accessed the California company's computer system in March 2002 and June 2002, after he left AltaVista and well before he went to work for Microsoft. Chavet, then living in California, copied to his home computer source code that was used by AltaVista "to perform the function of scouring the World Wide Web," according to an FBI affidavit.
Chavet's arrest was announced by the U.S. attorney in northern California last week without reference to his current employment. Microsoft acknowledged yesterday that Chavet is a Microsoft employee but declined to name the team on which he works.
However, three other people with knowledge of Chavet's Microsoft employment confirmed that he has been working on the MSN Search effort. A brief biography attached to a paper Chavet co-wrote on text analytics described him as an expert "in all aspects of search technology." He worked at IBM's Almaden Research Center after leaving AltaVista and before joining Microsoft.
Microsoft's MSN division has been developing its own algorithmic search engine to replace technology it currently licenses from Yahoo! Inc.'s Inktomi unit. Microsoft last week released a preview of the new MSN Search technology, and the company said it hopes to come out with a final version within the next year. The project is part of an effort by the company to compete more effectively with Google.
Citing a policy against discussing personnel issues, Microsoft declined to answer questions about Chavet's case, including whether it is investigating on its own to determine whether Chavet incorporated any of the allegedly stolen AltaVista technology into any of his work at Microsoft. A Microsoft spokeswoman, Tami Begasse, referred questions about the criminal investigation to the FBI, and said company policy requires employees act "honestly and ethically, and comply with all laws and regulations."
The allegations in the indictment against Chavet "do not pertain to Microsoft," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Sonderby, chief of the U.S. Attorney's Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property unit in Northern California, which is prosecuting the case. The FBI did not seize computers from Microsoft as part of the case, said Greg Fowler, the supervising special agent for the agency's Northwest Cyber Crime Task Force. AltaVista was acquired in 2003 by Overture Services, which was subsequently acquired by Yahoo! A spokesman for the company declined to comment.
Reached yesterday at his Kirkland home, Chavet, 29, declined to comment and said he had yet to retain a lawyer. A French national, he was required to surrender his passport after his arrest, court documents show. He is scheduled for arraignment July 20 in San Francisco.
The first alleged hacking incident took place a month after Chavet left AltaVista, authorities say. Chavet told an investigator that he used a former co-worker's log-in to access the company's computer system, according to an FBI affidavit. Authorities allege that Chavet caused more than $5,000 in damage to the AltaVista system after gaining access a second time, in June 2002.
According to the FBI affidavit, Chavet told investigators that he worked on the AltaVista source code while at the company and logged into the AltaVista system after leaving because he "was 'curious' about the evolution of the source code after his departure."
I've been using Alta Vista since about 95. It's always been better than the Microsoft product.
Whose surprised? Isn't this type of thing is SOP for MS?
No, not at all.
They usually approach the victim company with the possibility of buying the company and making all the stockholders multi-millionaires. Then the shaddy attorneys for Microsoft make everyone sign outrageous anti-disclosure documents in the name of not getting in trouble with the SEC. Then Microsoft in the name of evaluation the product they are about to buy, learns all the secrets. Then they decided not to buy. Then they release their new product based on stolen intellectual property of others.
What was done this time was much more direct and avoided all the "foreplay." You got to remember though that Balmer is trying to save money by cutting costs at MicroSoft! This one was very different from how they have done it in the past.
This seems like a no-brainer. This person wanted to "borrow" the source code to use for his own work product at Microsoft. He may have even slightly rewritten it or stripped off copyright/identifying comments, claiming it was his own genius.
No, it isn't like a big company to expose themselves to liability like this. They hire people with knowledge from other companies and have them sign big long agreements when starting employment.
I can sympathize with the guy saying he "was 'curious' about the evolution of the source code after his departure." If someone is involved in their work, of course they'd wonder about it. His mistake was that it wasn't his intellectual property and therefore he wasn't entitled to indulge his intellectual curiousity.
Usted tiene la derecha de seguir siendo silencioso. Cualquier cosa que usted dice se puede utilizar contra usted en corte.
I am sure it enhanced his resume.
I have a "friend" who was involved in one of your scenarios. He worked for a large software company (let's call it The Great Satan [TGS]) and wrote an internal, automated software testing tool. Someone higher up on the food chain brought in a smaller outside company to demonstrate their sw which performed some of the same things. Naturally, my friend was invited to the demonstration because people knew of his interest in the topic. After the demo, my friend makes the case to the higher ups that his solution is as good as the outside company's plus it costs nothing.
Anyway, his code started getting used widely throughout the company. Some other people at the company picked it up, unbeknownst to my friend, and made it into an actual Great Satan product which sold well. They were kind enough to give my friend the product's promotional T-Shirt.
Then the outside company who did the demo claimed that The Great Satan had copied/stolen their code. The claim was widely publicized by ignorant Great Satan-hating people on the Internet. My friend generally laughs off such ignorance except when he's having a bad day, then he tries to explain what really happened. Of course, it makes no difference because the Great Satan-haters are pathologically envious and don't want to know the truth.
What's especially humorous is that those Great Satan-haters are Americans yet can't understand why some foreigners hate America and blame her for all the ills in the world. My friend says it's exactly the same emotion that causes them to hate The Great Satan software company: envy of the biggest, most successful company/country.
Now, of course, that is assuming that Microsoft has the source code.
Now, as someone who works at Microsoft, I can say without a doubt, from personal experience, the fastest way to have an interview over, and your name blacklisted from ever being interviewed again, is to say anything about having access to a competitor's source code.
The reason for that is pretty simple - if you are willing to sell out a company you worked for before, who's to say you wouldn't do the sme to MS if you leave?
No, Microsoft doesn't have the source code. No way.
I'm pretty sure the guy was hired based on his work experience at IBM and Alta Vista, sure, but no way would his access to Alta Vista's source code have enhanced his resume at all. It would have, if he said anything, been a negative.
The big question is: why would he take it, UNLESS it was to make himself more valuable in his next job.
The next question is: did anybody at MS know he had proprietary info from AltaVista, and did that influence their hiring and compensation-setting decisions?
I can't answer the first question on what his motive was, but in answer to your second question I would have to say that it is a "No".
From what I've seen, there is no way it would have influenced the hiring and compensation decisions. No way in hell. Like I said before, if he had even hinted about it during the hiring process, he wouldn't have been hired. Period. It would have meant he could not be trusted to adhere to confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements. No way.
It would also indicate that he's either stupid or wearing a federal wire.
He doesn't need to say it. All he has to do is demonstrate detailed knowledge of how all aspects of the AV search engine work, including areas he never worked on.
ANd the cycle repeats
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