Code-Stealing Drone Vendor Settles With Devs 28
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by
Soulskill
from the now-they-can-make-war-peacably dept.
from the now-they-can-make-war-peacably dept.
An anonymous reader writes with an update to a story we discussed in September about allegations that copied, inaccurate software was being used in unmanned CIA drones. The lawsuit that publicized these allegations has now ended in a settlement. Quoting:
"The breach-of-contract lawsuit, initiated in Suffolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts in November 2009, revolved around a series of claims and counterclaims related to a sophisticated, analytical software program, known as Geospatial, that was developed by Boston-based IISI. The software is capable of integrating at high speeds spatial data, such as maps and visual images, with non-visual data, such as names and phone numbers. Netezza, in its pleadings, claimed that IISI, per contract, was required to upgrade the Geospatial software code to make it work on Netezza’s new data-warehouse computer platform, called the TwinFin. IISI argued, and the court ultimately agreed, that it was under no such obligation. IISI officials also indicated that such an upgrade effort would be quite challenging and costly. In the wake of IISI refusing to adapt the Geospatial software to the TwinFin on Netezza’s timeline, IISI asserted in court pleadings that Netezza proceeded to develop a re-engineered, flawed version of the software that was loaded on the TwinFin platform that Netezza allegedly sold to the CIA.
The moral of the story (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Vendor of code stealing drones (Score:4, Insightful)
Classic Corporate Crime Story (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Company makes product, sells it and makes profit. In this case there is a main contractor and a sub-contractor.
2. Corporate greed leads to faulty product. In this case innocent people die.
3. Bad result eventually is discovered. In this case by sub-contractor.
4. A civil court case makes the problem public.
5. Parties settle out of court for undisclosed amount. Given Netezza's purchase for $1.7Bn, IISI walked away with $250 million or more.
6. No legal blame is assigned anyone. No criminal charges are brought.
7. There is no public disclosure that is meaningful in a court of law, only allegations.
8. No one in the company suffers any negative career, financial, or legal repercussions. Most end up being rewarded.
9. None of the harmed parties or their survivors has any recourse or get any compensation.
10. Harm from bad product continues.
This is just normal business practice, and the costs are baked into the economic model before anything starts. Lawyers get rich, along with corporate executives no matter how much damage they do. The negative economic cost is born by the injured parties and investors, not management. There is no incentive to change corporate behavior, and overall insiders do better when greed wins no matter what the result.
As long as this is normal, do you expect anything to change?