Goldman Sachs employee charged with software theft.

chunter

Surely all these financial companies, in the years they were squandering these billions and billions of pounds, must have spent the odd minuscule million or two on automated s/w of this type.
Otherwise these wasters would have had to have actually worked for their million dollar bonuses.
So I'd assume they'd all have fairly similar algorithms.. it isn't rocket science...

DiggerUK

Fwor,
The GS spin seems to hint that they have got the algorithms in their code in such an efficient order, that they can execute their trades ahead of the pack and gain an advantage before anybody else.
If GS has developed this, then yes, I would view it as their property and understand why they are ticked of.
RobTang,
I don't like being referred to as silly, why can't I keep all my bank details and pass codes on the notice board in my workplace.
Your last point is what I'm thinking could be true, was it a pile of tosh, or some magic programme that worked. Both scenarios are an explanation for GS frenzy.
Chunter,
Calling them wasters was very rude, apologise at once. I don't think they were paid a quarter of what they were worth. They work very hard.

---

We know from the way Gary McKinnon is being chased how ruthless the US authorities are on these issues. It's the modern day equivalent of being charged with Heresy.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/09/world/main5074473.shtml

DiggerUK

Couple of updates on this story. The first link is a follow up piece from Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2GvteRoihQE

The second link is for more techie help for me. It was provided from the Bloomberg story. It is about a site that offers "Subversion Hosting".
Am I right in thinking that SH sites are used as a kind of archive for programmes on the lines of seed banks held by Kew Gardens, or am I way off track.
Although many of the sites seem to be subscription sites, they appear to be more about self help in upgrading existing software that is on the market, than in the world of developing software.
http://www.xp-dev.com/blogs/1/home/

Woby_Tide

fwor wrote: »

Sorry, but I don't understand that comment.

Even if the allegations are true, how could any intellectual property have been lost?

Someone who steals someone else's previously provably existing code can't hope to also steal the IPR's, or am I missing something here?

[Edit: "previously provable existing code" doesn't scan too well, but what I mean is that if GS can prove that they created the original code/algorithms, then the thief has no claim to any IPRs]

I didn't quite expect anyone to take it as "face value" as that. GS had some code that they had paid someone to create, that code was now available on a public server, they no longer have the sole use of the intellectual property that is within that code.

Woby_Tide

DiggerUK wrote: »

Couple of updates on this story. The first link is a follow up piece from Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2GvteRoihQE

The second link is for more techie help for me. It was provided from the Bloomberg story. It is about a site that offers "Subversion Hosting".
Am I right in thinking that SH sites are used as a kind of archive for programmes on the lines of seed banks held by Kew Gardens, or am I way off track.
Although many of the sites seem to be subscription sites, they appear to be more about self help in upgrading existing software that is on the market, than in the world of developing software.
http://www.xp-dev.com/blogs/1/home/

It's just a software version control system by the looks of it. Most companies will use something to allow them version control and allow them to backout changes to previous versions. This just seems to be the equivalent for Open Source stuff that someone may choose a previous version was more to their liking

fwor

Woby_Tide wrote: »

I didn't quite expect anyone to take it as "face value" as that. GS had some code that they had paid someone to create, that code was now available on a public server, they no longer have the sole use of the intellectual property that is within that code.

My apologies - I was being a bit simplistic there. Even if you take it as literally as I did, I suspect that an attempt to legally enforce GS's IPRs against a company within (for example) Russia or China would probably be an exercise in futility...

DiggerUK

I've bumped this back with an update.
If the attached link has any merit, beyond it being plausible, I'd like a techie opinion.
It goes on from the algorithm angle mentioned when I first posted, to "high and low latency programming", not my speciality.

It also links in the arrest by the FBI on July 4th, and why it could be that this guy had got his hands on the reason why GS posted such massive profits recently.

It's not a soundbite at nearly two pages long, just highly plausible. Even if you think it's nonsense it's a ripping story.

Thanks for all the posts so far.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KH05Dj03.html