A class act -- with help from Molly Raphael
What would you do if you had the chance to obtain inside information on a chief business rival?
This apparently wasn't much of a dilemma for Saucony President Richie Woodworth, who received an unsolicited offer for Nike's 2008 fall product catalog -- Nike being the business rival -- and promptly mailed it to Nike CEO Mark Parker.
Parker contacted the FBI. Which created a sting to catch the alleged seller. Which caught a Portland man. Who was charged with theft of trade secrets under the Economic Espionage Act.
And how did they catch the man? The Oregonian story said it was done by tracing the man's e-mail address "to the Multnomah County Library, which identified Reynold Sare Chapin as having used an Internet address linked to the e-mails."
Did you catch that, civil libertarians? The Multnomah County Library cooperated with -- gasp!! -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation to reveal a patron's identity in a criminal investigation.
As an aside, Woodworth hasn't heard a peep from anyone at Nike, and Nike's only official response was to say they "appreciate...Mr. Woodworth's collaboration on this matter." Gee, how warm and friendly. How classy.
But regardless -- bravo, Mr. Woodworth. And bravo to Molly Raphael, the library director.
This apparently wasn't much of a dilemma for Saucony President Richie Woodworth, who received an unsolicited offer for Nike's 2008 fall product catalog -- Nike being the business rival -- and promptly mailed it to Nike CEO Mark Parker.
Parker contacted the FBI. Which created a sting to catch the alleged seller. Which caught a Portland man. Who was charged with theft of trade secrets under the Economic Espionage Act.
And how did they catch the man? The Oregonian story said it was done by tracing the man's e-mail address "to the Multnomah County Library, which identified Reynold Sare Chapin as having used an Internet address linked to the e-mails."
Did you catch that, civil libertarians? The Multnomah County Library cooperated with -- gasp!! -- the Federal Bureau of Investigation to reveal a patron's identity in a criminal investigation.
As an aside, Woodworth hasn't heard a peep from anyone at Nike, and Nike's only official response was to say they "appreciate...Mr. Woodworth's collaboration on this matter." Gee, how warm and friendly. How classy.
But regardless -- bravo, Mr. Woodworth. And bravo to Molly Raphael, the library director.
Labels: Molly Raphael, Nike, Saucony
posted by Ken @ 1:10 PM
4 Comments:
At 11/09/2007 4:20 PM,
Chuff said…
Not a very bright criminal to be sure.
But what exactly is your statement about civil libertarians supposed to mean?
A crime was committed on MC Library grounds. The IP was traced from Yahoo to MC Library. I assume the proper warrants were issued.
This is not the same as conforming to a general sweeping request for all people who check out certain books, when no direct crime has been committed.
At 11/09/2007 6:51 PM,
Ken said…
Chuff, you know full well that there's a significant segment of Portland that would sooner yank their toenails out of their toes than see the library do anything to help the FBI. Warrant or not. Crime or not.
And, presumably, you also know that no "sweeping request for all people who check out certain books" has happened, either.
At 11/12/2007 3:48 PM,
Chuff said…
Regardless of your opinion of the "significant segment of Portland", these are the privacy policies at MC Library:
http://www.multcolib.org/about/pol-privacy.html
"...Illegal Activity Prohibited and Not Protected
Users may conduct only legal activity while using library resources and services. Nothing in this statement prevents the library from exercising its right to enforce its Rules of Behavior, protect its facilities, network and equipment from harm, or prevent the use of library facilities and equipment for illegal purposes. The library can electronically monitor public computers and external access to its network and reserves the right to do so when a violation of law or library policy is suspected. Staff is authorized to take immediate action to protect the security of library users, staff, facilities, computers and the network. This includes contacting law enforcement authorities and providing information that may identify the individual(s) perpetrating a violation. "
At 11/13/2007 7:27 AM,
Ken said…
Chuff, I understand the library's policies -- I went and read them myself. But my point is that Ms. Raphael didn't have to follow the policies; she could have at least made life difficult for the feds, and would have been lauded by the BDS crowd that thinks any opportunity to stick it to the man is a good opportunity. Instead, she cooperated, and I saluted her for it.
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