Ex-Goldman Sachs Programmer Found Guilty 244
Readers twoallbeefpatties and ngrier wrote in essentially simultaneously about the guilty verdict in the trial of former Goldman Sachs computer programmer Sergey Aleynikov. We've discussed the case several times before. The trial itself was sealed from the public to prevent discussion of GS's high-frequency trading system. Reader ngrier summarizes: "After just three hours of deliberation, the jury found Sergey Aleynikov guilty of intentionally stealing proprietary Goldman Sachs code. As he had admitted copying the code as he was preparing to join a startup competitor in 2009, the case hinged on the intent. He faces up to 10 years in prison."
Re:Where is wikileaks when you need them (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What is disturbing about this case (Score:2, Interesting)
Perhaps because the guy is an arrogant criminal?
I've met lots (well, maybe not lots but enough) of people who have stolen code from past and present employers for their own gain or for use at their new job. Sometimes the new employer welcomes them in with this gift hoping that if anyone gets caught they can deny they knew what was going on.
All of these people have been incredibly arrogant to the point of knowing that they were never going to get caught because they were just smarter than anyone else. And, even if they did get caught that nothing would happen to THEM because again, they were smarter than everyone else.
This goes along with the idea that women should just fall at their feet because they were the embodiment of Adonis and could satisfy any number of women each night giving each the most pleasure they had ever experienced. Needless to say, reality often interfered and sometimes they had a rude awakening. Sometimes they were very surprised when a woman didn't feel quite that way about things and thought they should be charged with rape or something similar.
It all comes down to being an arrogant asswhole.
Re:high frequency trading needs to be outlawed any (Score:3, Interesting)
LOL
i'm showing my age, but there was a mod some maniac made over ten years ago of id's original doom fps. you were let loose in a level full of monsters, and each monster correlated with a process running on your computer. when you shot a monster (with a shotgun, preferably), the process associated with that sprite was terminated as well. brilliant, and insane
now i want to see someone write a mod where you execute trades instead of processes. that would brilliant and insane x10
i think on the original mod there was a label floating above each sprite's head, so you knew what process you were terminating. although, it would be more fun if there was no label, so you wouldn't know if you were going to freeze your os, crash the system, or just end some minor helper service. likewise, with a trader fps mod, you should just go into the level with a shotgun and a bunch of sprites, not knowing if you blowing a couple of thousand on a major amount of a tanking stock, or making $10 off a useless tiny put option trade, or whatever
Re:high frequency trading needs to be outlawed any (Score:4, Interesting)
efficient?
you are basically advocating for shady marketplaces that are rigged by their most entrenched players. if the markets are not egalitarian, the markets are abusive, and you are cursing the entire concept of trading to the realm of corruption, which will decrease the overall market value a heck of a lot more than what taiwan and korea are suffering, i assure you
for a market to be truly free, that is, a meeting place of equals, it must be in the full light of day and be highly regulated. truly "free" marketplaces, that is, without any regulation at all, are, as a rule, dominated, abused, and taxed by their largest most powerful players
a marketplace that is regulated and transparent and well-policed and well-understood, is a marketplace that attracts investors with confidence and trust in what they are getting into. your dark marketplaces meanwhile are more a deal of who you know. the definition of nepotism and all manner of ills that befall fools that get involved in such financial chicanery
your way is the way of financial doom. you are ignorant of financial history. the fate of such dark marketplaces is well understood and oft repeated throughout history