Man pleads guilty to selling Windows code

A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty in federal court to selling Microsoft source code over the Internet.

William P. Genovese Jr., 28, of Meriden, Conn., entered his plea Monday in a Manhattan federal court to charges that he unlawfully sold and attempted to sell portions of Microsoft's source code for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

According to federal prosecutors, Genovese initially found the source code in February last year, after another party misappropriated the code and distributed it over the Internet without Microsoft's authorization. The defendant, who went under the alias of "illwill" and "[e-mail]," then posted the code to his site and offered it for sale.

An investigator for Microsoft and an undercover FBI agent were able to download copies of the stolen source code and send an electronic payment to Genovese between February and July of last year.

Genovese was charged with one count of unlawfully distributing a trade secret. He is expected to be sentenced this fall.

Although the U.S. criminal code allows a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for this type of crime, the U.S. Attorney General's office is recommending a sentence of between 10 to 30 months, said Sean Hecker, Genovese's attorney.

Hecker added that it is up to the judge to determine whether he will accept the sentencing guideline the parties worked out under the plea agreement.

"Mr. Genovese was anxious to put this case behind him," Hecker said. "He is working full time at his father's business...and is eager to be a productive member of society."

Hecker added that Genovese does not know the identity of the party who initially misappropriated Microsoft's source code.

Microsoft is not alone in finding its source code leaked and then offered for sale. Last year, a group calling itself the Source Code Club offered to sell older versions of Enterasys Network's Dragon intrusion-detection system source code for $16,000 and Napster's client and server software code for $10,000. In a later pitch, the SCC offered Cisco Pix 6.3.1 source code for $24,000.

[educateme]

Sell Windows code? Really! Just give it away to your enemies

I am not sure why anyone would make an effort to sell code from
NT or W2K. A good portion of NT (aka Digital built VMS) was
borrowed from the labs of Digital many years ago, I think MSFT got
some of it legally, and more of it by stealing, which it seems there
was a court case about this way back then. To think that anyone
would BUY windows when you can find it for free on any street
corner (in China) or online in the P2P community baffles me. Why
pay for a stolen good, that was stolen in the first place. Sounds like
a Mob process, I think they called it fencing.

[Maxwell Studly]

Educate yourself

"I am not sure why anyone would make an effort to sell code from NT or W2K."

Gee I wonder if it's because Windows is the most popular OS on the planet thus a target for attack yet subsequently sought after by 95% of all computer users. However, I'm not sure why anyone would do something so blatantly illegal either. I say the judge should throw the book at this idiot and anyone that supports stealing.


"A good portion of NT (aka Digital built VMS) was
borrowed from the labs of Digital many years ago"

You need to invest in a good dictionary and look up what "borrowed" actually means. Engineers that once worked on VMS worked on NT however code was NOT "borrowed." Borrowed is a term that really doesn't exist in the business world. Companies need to be accountable things. When you grow up you will learn this.

There are design concepts of NT and VMS that are similar though you can make this exact claim when comparing any two OS's.

"I think MSFT got some of it legally, and more of it by stealing, which it seems there
was a court case about this way back then."

Well then you're not thinking very well. If you're going to make such bold and unfounded claims, the least you could do is prove it. Please provide a credible link which *proves* MSFT stole something from Digital or expect all your replies to be taken with a grain of salt (IE worthless)

"To think that anyone
would BUY windows when you can find it for free on any street corner (in China) or online in the P2P community baffles me."

Maybe it's because most people don't resort to being petty thieves and criminals. Infact I'd say most people abhor the idea of stealing what isn't rightfully yours. Surely you won't mind criminals breaking into your home and stealing your (or your loved ones) belongings lest you be a hypocrite of grand proportions.


"Why pay for a stolen good, that was stolen in the first place. "

Well of course only an idiot would think/say the source code of Windows is stolen without proof, congratulations.

"Sounds like a Mob process, I think they called it fencing."


I think (know) I tore your post apart. Don't cry.

now thats family for ya

good job cuz if only ya did not get caught! Maybey they will let you use a comp. in jail! from:ya cuz Jim genovese - NB

genovese

i guess that other guy does not know what he is talking about

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Bill Gates should be going to jail

Bill G. is a convicted monopolist, causing harm to society at large. He should be going to jail. Pirating Microsoft products should be forgiven.

[Andrew J Glina]

No he is not.

Microsoft is. It was years ago now too. Many of the people who worked for Microsoft then would have left. Move on.