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by methehack 2490 days ago
That's tragic and awful. I think calling this a "shortcut" though is misleading, at least from what the times is reporting here.

It's one thing to own your own brain, it's another take 14K files, including circuit board designs and lidar designs. It's yet another to start using them at new-co that is a direct competitor to old-co. I'm by no means an IP fanatic, but that really does cross over to theft in my mind. But, on balance, the very specific details really matter here, so we'll see...
2 comments
magduf 2489 days ago
Taking PCB design files and using them at a competing company absolutely is IP theft. I'm honestly surprised anyone would think they could even get away with this; the old company just has to get their hands on one of the competitor's units and open it up and look at it.
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mcny 2489 days ago
> Taking PCB design files and using them at a competing company absolutely is IP theft. I'm honestly surprised anyone would think they could even get away with this; the old company just has to get their hands on one of the competitor's units and open it up and look at it.

I am not a Google employee but my understanding is that the biggest fear is not that Anthony Levandowski stole all the stuff but that Uber or another unscrupulous company would race ahead with inadequate self-driving causing a backlash that would bring down a legislative ban hammer on everyone, including Waymo. I think that is the real danger here.

Personally, I don't want Anthony Levandowski in prison. I just want him or people like him to not be able to work on self-driving cars.

I want self-driving cars to arrive and will gladly campaign to ban humans from being able to drive on public road when that day arrives.

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ZhuanXia 2489 days ago
Many of us do not believe IP is a legitimate property right.
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magduf 2487 days ago
Many people think the Earth is flat. What's your point?
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driven20 2489 days ago
Serious question open to anyone.

What is the line between "short cut" and "working smarter"?

It's not related to this post. Stealing is wrong. It just seems to me the line between being efficient and taking short cuts is really murky.

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random42 2489 days ago
It depends on which personal, professional, social, ethical and legal boundaries you are willing to cross.

Bribing a foreign government bureaucrat is a "short cut", but it crosses many lines, that are not ok.

Spamming users after buying their email address, cross fewer such boundaries, cause much less harm, and could be argued as "working smarter".

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