From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 1996 11:23:32 +0800
To: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Subject: Re: fbi botches intel "ecspionage" case
In-Reply-To: <199606292217.PAA15773@mail.pacifier.com>
Message-ID: <199606292231.PAA24242@netcom9.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> I can recall talk of a big problem WITHIN INTEL 
>trying to tranfer the process to produce a part between (as I recall) two 
>Intel semiconductor fabs,  Fab IV and Fab V, which are buildings only a 
>couple hundred feet apart!  And obviously, this was done with the full 
>cooperation of everyone within Intel, and did not require the interfacing 
>with any other company.  The idea that you can just steal the "plans" for a 
>chip and build it yourself is crazy.

I don't quite understand your point. are you saying that a chip is
far more than merely plans? that I totally agree with.  a chip is
built by a massive army of highly intelligent people and highly
specialized equipment. I would wager that a very large part of
pentium technology is in their fabrication equipment. it would take
truckloads of files to describe all the equipment, and even
then you wouldn't necesarily be able to build it: you need the
geniuses who wrote the papers  in the first place to pull it off.

hence, one of my big criticisms of the concept of "intellectual
property": does it really exist?!?! is it in fact an oxymoron?
(don't tell the fbi!!! they'll get that weepy look that little kids
get when you tell them santa claus doesn't exist, hehehehe)

>I was even more disgusted with the FBI:  I kept hearing them claim, "We did 
>not authorize him to break the law."   Huh?!?  Maybe they didn't, this time, 
>but does this mean, implicitly, that this country has sunk so low that the 
>FBI thinks it has the legal authority to "authorize" somebody to break the 
>law?????

actually I smell something really bad here. the reporter for nightline
seemed kind of stupid to me. he kept talking about how Intel had
not gotten any warning that the employee had a criminal record and
had been involved in espionage in the past.

that was LUDICROUS. didn't he understand what was going on here? the
FBI was using this person as an INFORMANT and SPY and therefore probably did
the exact OPPOSITE: tried to use whatever leverage they could to get
him into a sensitive position where he would be USEFUL. and they
succeeded!! I find this a highly plausible scenario that they are probably
still trying to suppress.  I doubt the full truth on the matter is out
yet and a lot of people are doing the CYA thing in both Intel and
the FBI over this thing.

hence, I suspect the FBI was directly responsible for getting him
into a sensitive position where he could do damage. at least, that's
exactly what they'd be encouraging him to do. however he didn't seem
to present any evidence of that. there was some kind of finagling that
the fbi did to get him his job.

what is possible is that the FBI has *other* informants and spies working
in Intel that helped get the guy his job, and they would be "rooted out" 
if the whole story came to light. the FBI cooks up some story that makes
him look like a lone madman that went loose on his own.