Seen this at ActiveWin: A Microsoft employee has been fired for his blog posting titled, “Even Microsoft wants G5s”, which includes photos of delivery of Power Mac G5s to Microsoft’s Redmond Campus: “To my mind, it’s an innocuous post. The presence of Macs on the Microsoft campus isn’t a secret (for everything from graphic design work to the Mac Business Unit), and when I took the picture, I made sure to stand with my back to the building so that nothing other than the computers and the truck would be shown — no building features, no security measures, and no Microsoft personnel. However, it obviously wasn’t enough.” Check the picture and the blog here. We hope Microsoft will reconsider.
Microsoft Fires Employee over G5 Photos, Blog
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
The draconian monster of Redmond rears its ugly head
I don’t know exactly what to think of it.
On the one hand, the employment contract of that employee probably said that his employment could be terminated at any time by either party for any reason or no reason. So there’s not a big deal. Furthermore, it may be possible to argue that there is a breach of NDA.
On the other hand, damn it feels sad that a company could be uptight about something like that. And there are plenty of uptight companies out there. Microsoft has an internal conflict of interest between their Office Mac team and their Windows team (Office Mac makes windows a less attractive product), and they’re scared to admit it.
I think this is a little misleading. He wasn’t a Microsoft employee, he was a full time TEMP. That’s a different animal altogether, governed by different rules from full employees.
For example, there are quite a few “official” blogs by Microsoft employees that haven’t really been censored by the higher-ups at redmond, but then again, they haven’t exactly crossed any lines.
To have a temp post a photo of Microsoft recieving a competing product, whether it is known or not, is a breach of security, pure and simple.
If it hadn’t been for the age of blogs, and reactionism against Microsoft, this wouldn’t have even made the radar.
If I were to take unautorized pics of were I work I would be fired ASAP. What goes on inside doesn’t concern the world.
At least the world doesn’t know about the 2 dozen IBM AS/400s that runs most of Microsoft Corp…
I just hope they use those shiny new G5s to fix the freaking filename-length problem with Office.X …
It is an accepted fact that people will leak things to rumour sites.. – unless you read the mac rumour sites, which over time prove that Apple insiders leak false information just to annoy them –
However this guy went too far, he not only took photographic proof but he published it under his own name
I’d fire him too. As a poster on /. said a few hours ago, corporations have a right to a bit of privacy too.
You are aware that in many countries, you could not get fired for something like this, right?
From his blog: “I don’t expect to get fired for this picture. It’s hard to imagine that anyone would. Microsoft sucks.”
Doesn’t sound like this guy really wanted to be there anyway.
“You are aware that in many countries, you could not get fired for something like this, right? ”
And, unfortunately for him, he happens to work in one the countries that _can_ fire him for this. Do Europeans even know what temps are? I have no idea about the composition of the labor market across the pond.
There’s nothing wrong with this. I mean, geez, you stick your head out, don’t look so surprised when it gets chopped off.
-Erwos
I’m a European.. or a Yerpin as Mr.Bush seems to like to refer to us…
We certainly have temps over here, Agency staffing is a massive industry in this European state ( UK ) anyway.
As far as my awareness of European labour law goes, what he did would be accepted as a breach of security and perfectly legitimate cause for dismissal. Firms all over the world will expect their staff not to reveal information about internal development.
Do Europeans even know what temps are?
no they don’t – please tell them.
(young old-european)
This guy was probably not fired because of the picture. It is no surprise that Microsoft would need makes to test the Mac software that they develop.
He was probably fired for giving out inforation about the Microsoft Campus, buildings, locations, etc. Since he was a temp and he obviously violated his NDA, security had every right to fire him. His own stupid got him fired.
in europe you could be sacked for this if you signed a non-disclosure act which microsoft im sure do use, same as if you work for some1 like the DVLA, Inland Revenue, you sign something saying you wont disclose information concerning the company and its transactions.
also no offence but its a slight insult to the intelligence of people if you put down “Do Europeans even know what temps are?” “temp” is a commonly known annagram in english to mean Temporary, so it doesnt take much grey matter to figure out that temps means temporary staff considering the topic is about staff and disclosure of details
BS. if I take pictures – heck, if I just bring a camera I could say bye bye to my job. It’s called security. How could they trust this guy at further when he takes pics and gives details about the environment? I hope Eugenia reconsiders.
I don’t know of you ppl but the reason for firing the person seems pretty stupid. I work in our company security team but being fired for something like that – I can say – pretty paranoid. Could anyone actually recognise the building? Is it unknown fact that MS develops for Mac?
-pekr-
When you work for a company (especially here in the US), everthing that happens at work is pretty much considered confidential. It is pretty stupid to post anything embarassing about your company if you want to keep your job. At least wait until AFTER you leave the company. In that case, they could possibly sue you under the NDA you probably signed, but would most likely just ignore it. Still, burning bridges isn’t terribly smart in this economy either.
… and it isn’t the government, it’s your employer. Yes, we live in an age of corporate fascism. Might as well accept it now.
I don’t think so, i’ve seen worse things on MS employees blogs:
http://www.newmobilecomputing.com/story.php?news_id=3461
The only position in microsoft I would accept is CEO, just
for one day, enough to shut the company down forever.
DG
I agree his firing seems extreme, but I think from reading a few different blogs on the topic that his firing was more a result of him naming the building and location, than just that there were G5s going to msft.
The part that gets me is who found this blog, and then reported him? Does msft security actively look for these things, or did someone feel it was necessary to report him to authorities? Gives me warm fuzzies thinking perhaps someone who knew him personally at msft read his blog, then decided to report it.
http://www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism/2003/10/of_blogging_and.h…
“It seems that my post is seen by Microsoft Security as being a security violation. The picture itself might have been permissible, but because I also mentioned that I worked at the MSCopy print shop, and which building it was in, it pushed me over the line. Merely removing the post was also not an option ? I offered, and my manager said that he had asked the same thing ? but the only option afforded me was to collect any personal belongings I had at my workstation and be escorted out the door. They were at least kind enough to let me be escorted out by one of my co-workers, rather than sending security over to usher me out, but the end result is the same.
More frustrating for me is that, having read stories here and there on the ‘net about people who had for one reason or another lost their jobs due to something on their weblogs, I thought that I had done what I could to avoid that possibility. To my mind, it’s an innocuous post. The presence of Macs on the Microsoft campus isn’t a secret (for everything from graphic design work to the Mac Business Unit), and when I took the picture, I made sure to stand with my back to the building so that nothing other than the computers and the truck would be shown ? no building features, no security measures, and no Microsoft personnel. However, it obviously wasn’t enough.”
I don’t know of you ppl but the reason for firing the person seems pretty stupid. I work in our company security team but being fired for something like that – I can say – pretty paranoid. Could anyone actually recognise the building? Is it unknown fact that MS develops for Mac?
I’ve seen temps fired for complaining about their job (which permanent employees tend to do fairly often), so I don’t see why it’s a big deal that he would get fired over something that permanent employees in many organizations would get fired for, such as:
1) taking pictures of the interior or exterior of any building, including but not limited to any items in or being delivered to that building
2) discussing the location of particular divisions of the corporation within a ‘campus’ environment or building in relation to exterior landmarks (ie a loading dock) with people other than employees (or people that simply have no need to know that information).
I tell people in general where I work, as the building has a sign on it and it’s perfectly ok to tell people who I work for, but I don’t tell them where I work in the building, what kind of shipments we get, or specifics about my job (or other people’s jobs), and I definitely don’t bring a camera in the building.
I don’t agree with the remark that the US-EU gap is just a ‘pond’. But apart from that, here in the Netherlands I think the reasoning would go as follows: if the guy took pictures in his personal living space (appartment, room he rents) then that is considered to be a private matter, as long as he doesn’t take pictures of sensitive material related to the company; i.e. security, etc. So MS would not be allowed to fire him for that. However, since he is a ‘temp’, MS could easily terminate his dispachment. To do things as ‘bold’ as this, you need to be called Gunter Wallraff…
After all, who would employ such a ding-bat for stating the obvious..? MS has Office and other Mac-products and of course a company of the scale as MS will have/evaluate *EVERY* OS on a daily basis to keep a picture of what’s going on. In fact, I think they should re-hire him so they can fire him for a 2nd time… ;-p
This will teach him the meaning of 3rd party + employer privacy rights — think about MS what you will, but this is as wrong as it was st00pid.
True, the guy would have been better publishing it anonymously, but it’s still an extreme move by Microsoft. If they were a Defense Contractor, fine, I could see it. But no matter how popular their software is, it’s still just software. It’s not like the guy’s stealing their precious source code. This a reflexion of Bill’s paranoia.
I like these news, cause it is a good opportunity to see people without any brain.
Microsoft has a Mac business. It produces Mac products, they do use Macs. Microsoft would never fire anybody because he/she shows that Microsoft is using macs.
The guy got fired because he published unauthorized photos of the campus, and he described the environment. Obviously his intention was also not good, just to make Microsoft look bad. In any case, he got fired not because he took G5 photos, but because he got photos.
Nevertheless it is funny to see so many idiots rushing to conclusion that he got fired because he took G5 pictures. It is actually scary to know that there are so many idiots around.
“Furthermore, it may be possible to argue that there is a breach of NDA. ”
no i really don’t think so. Corporations like to play this game a bit but it is bogus. The NDA does not equal a oath of silence and it protects legitimate business interests. That picture does not do a thing to compromise legitimate business interests nor is it unexpected (MS makes software for apple).
Just needed to say that because businesses are in the habit of abusing NDAs, non-competes, etc. etc. quite a bit.
If he doesn’t have his hands tied with a non-competitive clause in his contract with MS he should join the ranks of Apple.
He’d then become yet another switcher to Apple.
I just wonder, why Serge’s post was not found an abuse. Serge aparently seems to be so clever, that he has to call others having different opinion publicly idiots.
It is very laughable and I hope someone else works for security team as I do. Maybe we have wrong rules here. Well, should we shoot local media showing some company buildings, which are not strategic by any means? 🙂
I think that simply after 11.9. america is getting more and more paranoid ….
-pekr-
“It is actually scary to know that there are so many idiots around. ”
Like Microsoft Managers – jeeez to give someone the sack because of this is absoluttely ridiculous and wold never happen in germany. coleagues here at work take digital cameras with them and take pictures (of coleagues f.e) and i work for a software company with 5000 employees and security is top priority – it just doesn’t matter as long as no valid information leaks into the public (and so far never has, seeing that our company deals with sensitive information to do with taxes), so i really don’t get it – but hey this is obviously coorperate america – man am i glad i am working in germany were people are not so tight-arsed !
The ironic thing of all this is that, is this is a security breach, almost no-one would ever read it had the manager simply asked the guy to remove the post from the blog, but since the guy was fired now it’s all over the place. So if it was a security measure form MS, it backfired badly.
JBQ wrote:
I don’t know exactly what to think of it.
On the one hand, the employment contract of that employee probably said that his employment could be terminated at any time by either party for any reason or no reason. So there’s not a big deal. Furthermore, it may be possible to argue that there is a breach of NDA.
On the other hand, damn it feels sad that a company could be uptight about something like that. And there are plenty of uptight companies out there. Microsoft has an internal conflict of interest between their Office Mac team and their Windows team (Office Mac makes windows a less attractive product), and they’re scared to admit it.
The funny thing is that you post worse thing in your own blog. Especially where you told the world about the QA process at your “industry leader in embedded software”.
If I were your boss, you’d have been fired long ago over this.
I dont see a problem with this picture. First of all it could be taken anywhere, as said by the author there are no markings of any kind that “proofes” its a microsoft delivery truck or campus, so it could be the delivery entrance of apple, who knows…
Also I dont think that its such a big secret that microsoft uses other hardware than PCs or their own software. Although i dont have any prove but I am pretty sure that microsoft runs a lot of linux server within their company, if not for something usefull than at least for “checking out the competitor”. 🙂
This is the same ol BS that M$ is infamous for: Speak lightly of the Giant for his wrath is to be feared. If you consider the 1st amendment rights that are violated by M$ being allowed to fire this guy we americans should be ashamed. It seems that large companys are allowed to bend civilian rights and liberties.
On a technical stand point that pallate of G5’s holds a double payload of emarrasment for M$. It’s a Mac and its Unix. Favorite places of stolen inspiration for the big cheese. I wonder if longhorn will kave a KDE-esqu apnel with and Aqua carbon theme riding on what we call EXT3 / ReiserFS and they call WinFS.
-N
> Yes, we live in an age of corporate fascism.
> Might as well accept it now.
Ain’t it strange how, when there was “fascism” over the pond in old Europe, or on the oil fields in the Middle East, Uncle Sam goes to war – but when there’s fascism, be it political in Guantanamo Bay or economical in Redmond, the message is “shut up and cope”?
:-/
Unfortunately, they know very little of the benefits of a free capitalistic society.
Temp workers have pretty much no rights, not here in the UK at least. I lost a temp job earlier this year when I went to Ireland for a week for a family wedding and the company gave me no idea that they’d do that. So I’m not surprised this guy got the sack for taking unauthorised pics M$ buying a load of their competitors’ gear.
Microsoft isn’t violating first amendment rights. He was told that the picture is his, on his server, and he can do what he wants with it. Makes sense to me.
But what Microsoft isn’t happy about, is that a temp employee is running around and snapping photos of their private property, from within private property. It would be no different from me walking inside the mail distribution room of Wells Fargo bank, and taking pictures of anything coming and going.
On a technical standpoint, is a Mac shipment embarassing for Microsoft? I’d say no. Considering that Microsoft develops for the Macintosh, I think that it’s ‘technically’ common-sense for them to have a few Macs, don’t you think? Apple develops for Windows too. Would it be a double payload of embarassment to know that they have Windows machines?
I don’t believe Microsft can copy Aqua, or they’ll be sued by Apple. And one of the positives of Windows, I believe, is that it isn’t like UNIX.
Most OSes will probably juggle the same general features that people want to see. If people see something useful in another OS, they’ll want it in theirs too.