Former Lockheed Skunkworks Engineer Auctioning a Prototype "Spy Rock" 119
ilikenwf writes "For a cool $10,000,000.00, the prototype of a surveillance rock full of spy gadgets could be yours! More importantly, server backups from the gentleman's time at Lockheed are included, being the real valuable in this auction, as it contains schematics and such. The seller seems to think that the current xBee radio products are actually based on his work with Lockheed. The proceeds will go towards legal action the seller is apparently taking against his former employer." This may be the most unusual eBay product description I've ever encountered, and one of the most interesting, too.
IP Rights (Score:3, Insightful)
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Read the description. He wasn't a Lockhead emplyee. He held 10% shares of the contractor company that designed the product.
Shachar
Re:IP Rights (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds like he was fired from the contract company that he was 10% owner of, and told that Lockheed did not buy the product (and thus no delivery of the final product). And now it appear that either Lockheed did buy the product after all or else it was sold at a later date to a third party (somehow xBee eventually got it). So he wants his 10%. The suit is against this contractor company.
Re:IP Rights (Score:5, Interesting)
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One of the risks of working on DoD projects is they have a nice little loophole in patent law that allows them to take IP from one company and give it to another
Yet a Google search brings up nothing. Do you have a citation?
There have been quite a few documented cases over the years ...
Pet peeve: People that claim there are "quite a few" documents, but fail link to even one.
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Re:IP Rights (Score:4, Informative)
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What'd you do? Steal a key to the patent office?
Yeah, basically.
- Let me get this straight. l got pulled off an oil rig, flown halfway around the world because you stole my drill design...
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Despite somehow managing to be a decent movie to watch, Armageddon really is a very stupid movie in a lot of ways. This one, for example. Why would they need to "steal a key to the patent office". If it's patented, or patent pending, it's a public record. Anyone can build one. They can also quite legally build one for research and experimentation purposes, and train their astronauts with it without owing anyone license fees. That's even if they're a private entity and not a government agency. If they were a
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The vast majority of people who watched Armageddon took what he said at face value.
Naturally. Just like the asteroid being "the size of Texas" yet still vulnerable to a nuke, or the entire premise of drilling into it to plant a nuke that would blow it apart along a fault line. There's a lot of really cringe-worthy movie science in that movie. Really, really a lot. Somehow it manages to be watch-able anyway. It certainly had a lot more replay value than _Deep Impact_.
Re:IP Rights (Score:4, Interesting)
All of which makes the eBay auction an absolutely brilliant legal maneuver:
To shut down the eBay auction Lockheed would have to claim ownership of the IP...which would mean admitting to fraud and making it legally liable to a hell of a lot more then just his 10% share (especially given the claims of continued use of his IP in other projects), likely including serious criminal charges.
If they don't take the bait...he's potentially $10M richer and still retains IP rights and can still use that to pursue the use of his tech in other projects (drones, etc).
It's by far better legal leverage than he'd ever see in a court room.
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Anyone who wants to keep the information out of the public (and away from competitors) without legally acknowledging wrong doing. ie, a shell corporation for the companies he claims stole his IP.
Anyone who wants to keep what are very likely current survalance protocols hidden, "2 decades old tech" or not. ie, the US government.
Anyone who wants to subvert that technology. ie any non-US government as well as plenty of multinational corporations who routinely engage in corporate spying on each other and gov
Re:IP Rights (Score:5, Informative)
"In 2002-2003, I was the Chief Technology Officer for a Boston-based hardware research and development firm, Advanced Wireless Automation (AWA)."
"Based upon my equity ownership in the company and the fact that all AWA computing resources were conducted on my own personal equipment using my own datacenter and my Internet connection, it is well within my right to auction off the backups related to the now-defunct AWA."
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None of which means it wasn't the intellectual property of Lockheed. That depends on the terms of the contract AWA had with Lockheed, not on who owned the company or who hosted the computing resources. (And, FWIW, the same goes for the 'right' to auction off said intellectual property.)
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It's not intellectual property. He's auctioning actual source code and gerber files.
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And the legal term for that kind of thing is.... (drum roll)... intellectual property.
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Intellectual Property is something that doesn't actually exist. The copyright to the source code can be considered IP but the source code is not. You can read up on it here: http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/index.html [wipo.int] and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property [wikipedia.org]
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It would have been IP of Lockheed had Lockheed bought that product. Since Lockheed just took the files and proceeded to using them while stating they are no longer interested in the product they never obtained the IP.
If I'm contracted to write a program and the person who contracted me decides to unilaterally dissolve the contract - stating they are no longer interested in whatever they contracted me for (and won't pay me for any work completed so far) - they definitely do not obtain IP to work completed so
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The project wasn't picked up by Lockheed. So no.
Tigers? (Score:5, Funny)
Does the rock also keep tigers away? Because if so, SOLD!
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What? (Score:2)
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Re:What? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds about right for a second hand webcam in a Styrofoam rock.
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From the auction:
The pictures depicted from this auction show some of the early prototypes from the project; however, it should be noted that none of that hardware will be included in this auction as I had a non-intentionally set fire :) that transpired at my house in the storage area where my prototypes were, that destroyed most if not all of the prototype hardware from the initial project development with Lockheed. Those pictures were taken during the development process at one of Lockheed's SCIFs located in Northern Virgina, as is evidenced by the yellow caution tape you see on the floor there in the first few pictures. The last picture was one of the sample images generated from a RockCam installed across the street from one of the engineer's house.
What this auctions contains is this:
The remaining prototype hardware that I have in my possession, including:
1) Microhard Spectra 910 900MHz serial line radio with power supply (this was a prototype 900MHz radio that I believe went on to become the current generation of ZigBee-based XBee radios;
2) A collection of PC104-based enclosures and motherboards, with various interfacing such as serial ports, USB ports, etc;
3) A Mobile Wireless Technologies RM1000g AVS vehicle transponder with WWAN and GPS tracking support;
4) Novate wireless prototyping board;
5) GNU X-Tools cross compilation software;
and
6) A CD filled with backup materials during several years of the company (the most valuable part of this auction obviously).
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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Or more likely v3 which invisibly replaces your doorstep.
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Depends they might go for a home smoke/carbon monoxide detector with power for a long time
Or save $9,999,000.00 (Score:4, Insightful)
Because a Rasberry Pi, slightly outdated cellphone, wireless router, digital TV tuner card or USB device, flash memory, styrofoam, and spraypaint aren't exactly that expensive as OTS component resources in regards to being able to roll your own. Outside of custom software and knowing how to put the hardware together, it should be possible for under $1000 easy.
and old android will do it all (Score:3)
an old 3g phone with android and no apps, but one app for spying is enough.
There, $50 of hardware needed, nothing else.
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Not to mention the wavelet encryption modified to run off an ASIC in what sounds like near real-time.
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compression not encryption. Sigh @ not previewing.
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The guy described this working on spread spectrum below noise level. Not exactly wireless router or outdated phone type radio communication.
The camera and rock part is the easy part of the project. Making the rock broadcast the images in a way undetectable to standard radio equipment is the hard part; it's not just you won't decode the transmission, the very presence of the RF transmission is about impossible to detect unless you know what to look for (precise algorithm of extracting the data which is well
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Add in the radiation details, 3 years of operation: thinking Iran, North Korea?
Free shipping eh? (Score:2)
I wonder if 'free shipping' also includes trans-Atlantic shipping? To eh.. say Russia, for example?
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Re:Free shipping eh? (Score:4, Informative)
They apparently delivered at least one of them to Russia free of charge already. Some years ago, there was a purportedly documental story on Russian TV where an employee of the British embassy was shown using a "spy rock" clandestinely in Moscow. The veracity of that was widely dismissed because of the ridiculousness of the idea. Some of these spy operations sound like gratuitous toying with cloak-and-dagger stuff.
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Interesting notes about 'imagery data being relayed between the rocks, so that conventional signals intelligence methods would be unable to view the encrypted image/video streams." before the UK story.
Old tech (Score:2)
He isn't selling the rock :( (Score:5, Informative)
It is a pity that the poster has never actually read the description of the auction, otherwise they would have found that:
"The pictures depicted from this auction show some of the early prototypes from the project; however, it should be noted that none of that hardware will be included in this auction as I had a non-intentionally set fire :) that transpired at my house in the storage area where my prototypes were, that destroyed most if not all of the prototype hardware from the initial project development with Lockheed. Those pictures were taken during the development process at one of Lockheed's SCIFs located in Northern Virgina, as is evidenced by the yellow caution tape you see on the floor there in the first few pictures. The last picture was one of the sample images generated from a RockCam installed across the street from one of the engineer's house."
and
" 1) Microhard Spectra 910 900MHz serial line radio with power supply (this was a prototype 900MHz radio that I believe went on to become the current generation of ZigBee-based XBee radios; 2) A collection of PC104-based enclosures and motherboards, with various interfacing such as serial ports, USB ports, etc; 3) A Mobile Wireless Technologies RM1000g AVS vehicle transponder with WWAN and GPS tracking support; 4) Novate wireless prototyping board; 5) GNU X-Tools cross compilation software; and 6) A CD filled with backup materials during several years of the company (the most valuable part of this auction obviously)"
So still some nice hw and docs, but certainly no "spy rocks" included. RTFA, guys!
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Taking pictures in a SCIF?
Ruh-Roh.
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So... In the process of trying to raise money for legal fees against his former employer, he releases pictures taken on Lockheed property of Lockheed IP stuff, and some documents most likely protected via Lockheed IP and national security laws? So, he invites yet another lawsuit, breaks ebay Terms and Conditions, breaks national laws, and tries to become another Snowden.
So either this is a huge hoax, or this guy is an idiot. At least try to flee the country first next time! Russia might give you temporary a
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Totally bogus (Score:2)
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Lockheed does a lot more than just aviation design, and it is also fairly typical for government contractors to sub out work to outside companies, especially if the top tier contractor doesn't have the internal expertise or can't pay the expertise enough to join Lockheed.
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Have you even been on Lockheed's website? Yes, they have pictures -- no reading necessary.
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Taking pictures inside a SCIF with your personal electronic devices is a major no-no. This guy is about to get slapped down hard for that alone.
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This guy has a plan and it has nothing to do with actually succeeding with the auction... for the intended audience (maybe just one person) this is a shot across the bow, in a public forum, and the most important information (to the right person) is what is not said. 90% of this story (if it's not a hoax, which it probably is) will never be told, which may be the whole point here.
Anything Else for Sale ? (Score:3)
Actually (Score:2, Insightful)
It's spelled Lockheed
Historical (Score:2)
This started the war in iRock
Pet Rock (Score:1)
This may trigger a fad called something like "pet rocks".
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Doggone it! (Score:1)
Did he already sell the Dogpoop Cam? I hear it was cancelled because they got tired of wiping prototypes off their shoes.
Bottom line... (Score:2)
See "Estimated annual revenue" -- $20K
I guess $10M for this shiny rock would bolster the annual revenue a tad...
It's a rock (Score:1)
X marks the pots! (Score:2)
For a cool $10,000,000.00, the prototype surveillance rock full of spy gadgets box could be yours! More importantly, home server backups from the gentleman's time at Lockheed are included, which was real valuable to this auction as that's where schematics and such are. The seller seemed to think that the current xBee radio box is actually based on his square design done at Lockeed. Proceeds go towards legal action; The seller is allegedly taking against his former employer's wishes....
And you can keep your weed in there, man!
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Weed?
I don't think that's what this guy is taking.
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This notes years hidden with options to conserve energy, get more useful life from the sun and radiation detectors with local weather details. Images over low-capacity mesh radio is just fine if its one 'site' and under years of expansion.
Different mission to devices like http://rt.com/news/spy-rock-britain-admit-147/ [rt.com] (2006)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/9022827/Russian-spy-rock-was-genuine-former-chie [telegraph.co.uk]
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So that science data would be collected and compressed back to a US site without Soviet/Russian/China/French?/German? local 'spy radio' detection systems been made aware?
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The point is to make Lockheed or whoever else pay him his 10%.
That sale isn't targeted at you and me (Score:5, Insightful)
Will be interesting to see if there is really someone who buys before the auction ends. In effect, he/she will fund the legal campaign of his/her opponent ...
The point is to be sued (Score:2)
I am auctioning this off for the stated price to fund a legal team in DC dig into my dismissal from the company and to determine where the AWA intellectual property went after the demise of AWA.
And what is the interesting part of the auction? A backup CD full of AWA intellectual property. If someone sues him over selling that CD and infringing upon their IP, then he knows who currently owns the IP, and he can in discovery find out how they obtained it—providing the evidence needed to file his own lawsuit.
It sounds like a bit of a gamble, though: What if, say, the customer lists and the patents went to different places? Then the owners of the former could sue him, but he woul
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Then make some explosive shells, and sit them out in the wilderness for 60 years. Weathering will make some of them look like rocks. You really shouldn't pick them up, or even touch them, due to 60 years of erosion screwing with the triggering mechanism; so you won't actually be able to use them for anything.
But you'll have exploding rocks.
Delusion... (Score:2)
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maybe it's a double-agent rock
Disappeared (Score:1)
Rare Slashdotting Measurement!!!! (Score:1)
10 minutes ago, a hover-over of the main picture yielded "583 people are viewing this per hour". 10 minutes later just now, it's up to 592.
As more people wake up this number should go up.
A bigger version of the Dog Turd sensor (Score:2)
Doesn't ebay charge for listings? (Score:1)
If this guy's minimum price is ten million dollars, won't he be on the hook for several hundred thousand in fees to ebay if it doesn't sell?
This guy isn't a U.S. citizen... (Score:1)
Nobody born and bred in the U.S of A. ends their correspondence with cheers.
Just sayin'
Cheers!
Sure we do. (Score:2)
Nobody born and bred in the U.S of A. ends their correspondence with cheers.
Lots of us do - and have for decades.
I've used it in email practically since there's been email - and I was born and raised almost in the center of the "radio accent" heartland.
It's short and often just the right tone for ending a written communication.
Repurcussions for buyer? (Score:2)
More importantly, server backups from the gentleman's time at Lockheed are included, being the real valuable in this auction
I have a hard time imagining, that Lockheed has consented to release of server backups containing intellectual property they made or have an interest in.
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Lockheed failed to pay = finalize the contract that would obligate the contractor to destroy these backups. What they consent or not consent to is moot, the guy was in a separate company, the company delivered a product and wasn't paid for it. That means Lockheed doesn't own any IP to that product (which apparently doesn't stop them from manufacturing it).
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the guy was in a separate company, the company delivered a product and wasn't paid for it.
In other words, the IP belongs to the separate company, he was hired to do work for; Not Lockheed, and Not the guy.
Failing to have a contract requiring he destroy the data doesn't give him a right to copy and distribute it though.
So in theory there is the potential for serious consequences against both buyer and seller of the eBay auction; assuming that eBay doesn't pull the auction, and the DoD doesn't interrup
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The company was liquidated, so there's nobody to sue him for misusing the IP from that company.
Spy Rocks (Score:1)