al@mot.UUCP (Al Filipski) (02/20/85)
> OK, pal. Where did you get this? Yo in a heap o trouble, boy. This > . . . > . . . > 3) This memo was strickly confidential. You have broken several > laws. I do not know whether you will be prosecuted. If you really > want to know what happens when the shit hits the fan, stick > around. I will be sending this to our legal department. They will > want to know where you got it. You are in a lot of trouble, > whether this memo was fabricated, or NOT. > . . . > . . . > John Williams > Digital Equipment Corperation > Even though this was in net.jokes, is this a real threat? (Assuming that this refers to a real memo and not some malicious fabrication.) I thought "confidentiality" had to do with rules a corporation makes for its employees. If they break the rules, they can be fired, even sued, because they have a contract with the corporation. But, if I get a paper that some corporation wrote "confidential" on and I show it to someone, can the corporation send their lawyers to "want to know where I got it"? What if I don't tell? Do they get out the rubber hoses? Is divulging a secret you never agreed to keep a crime or tort? Is it my burden to prove that it's a real memo? I thought newspapers published information from leaked memos all the time. -------------------------------- Alan Filipski, UNIX group, Motorola Microsystems, Tempe, AZ U.S.A {seismo | ihnp4 } ! ut-sally ! oakhill ! mot ! al -------------------------------- Who would think that these are the opinions of my employer? P.S. [:-)]The trouble with sending questions like this to the net is that they never get any response from lawyers. I know this because the answers generated often make sense and do not start "Well, on the one hand, if <x>, it may or may not depend on whether..."
steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (02/23/85)
> > > OK, pal. Where did you get this? Yo in a heap o trouble, boy. This > > . . . blah blah blah ... > > . . . > Even though this was in net.jokes, is this a real threat? > (Assuming that this refers to a real memo and not some malicious > fabrication.) If it is in net.jokes the "malice" is presumed to be tounge-in-cheek! . I thought "confidentiality" had to do with rules a > corporation makes for its employees. If they break the rules, > they can be fired, even sued, because they have a contract with > the corporation. But, if I get a paper that some corporation wrote > "confidential" on and I show it to someone, can the corporation send > their lawyers to "want to know where I got it"? > Since I was the person that Mr. Williams threatened, I took the time to call "my legal staff," an old friend who is a lawyer. His opinion was that Mr. Williams was a bit off-the-wall. I do not know if the memo is real (I actually thought that it was sarcasm and not real). Basically the analysis above is correct. Were I to have ever signed a non-disclosure agreement with DEC and had I agreed not to publish memos that I got, then they could sue me if I violated the contract. Even if a person violates a non-disclosure agreement it is not against the law to do it. This is all assuming he wasn't joking. -- scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 ihnp4!pesnta -\ 109 Torrey Pine Terr. ucbvax!twg --> scc!steiny Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 fortune!idsvax -/
geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) (02/25/85)
> OK, pal. Where did you get this? Yo in a heap o trouble, boy. This > . . . > . . . > 3) This memo was strickly confidential. You have broken several > laws. I do not know whether you will be prosecuted. If you really > want to know what happens when the shit hits the fan, stick > around. I will be sending this to our legal department. They will > want to know where you got it. You are in a lot of trouble, > whether this memo was fabricated, or NOT. > . . . > . . . > John Williams > Digital Equipment Corperation Um, John, I hate to break it to you, but (1) there is no law against the publishing this memo, and (2) it wasn't confidential anyway. That memo was released by Ken Olsen's office several years ago, as a way of demonstrating how concerned Ken is about the quality of the product. The product Ken was talking about is (was) a real loser, and his interest in low-level quality is one of the reasons that product was a relative rarity in the DEC line. -- Geoff Kuenning Unix Consultant ...!ihnp4!trwrb!desint!geoff