I wish I had been wrong
Rex Ballard
In 2001:
<quote>
If the DOJ appears to place Microsoft "above the law", there may be
reprecussions. We have already seen at least 5 viruses that
threatened
millions of machines. We've seen major exploits of Microosft's
vulnerabilities in Melissa, I love you, and resume.
If Microsoft is perceived to be above the law, there may be those
who take the law into their own hands.
...
We now live in a world where cash is little more than "government
green
stamps", and the "Real Money" is the bits in the bank's corporate
computers.
We live in a world where SWIFT moves more cash in a few minutes than
the
government prints in an entire year.
</quote>
In 2005:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/486f6775cd19b986
<quote>
It seems like that "Compliance Officer" is completely asleep at the
wheel. If Microsoft is above the law, then there is no law, and the
law can't be taken seriously.
</quote>
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/2a10e11ef9cbffd0?dmode=source
While I was focused on Bush's handling of Microsoft, it seems that
Bush was also turning a blind eye to lots of other companies' illegal
business practices. In other cases, they were just unethical or
unsound.
Paul Montgumdrop
<snipped>
The real money is in gold. You're worried about some MS BS when the
financial world with major major financial players are going down the
tubes here in the US. The bubble has busted, and it's got your little
nest egg completely fucked-up and is fucking-up the world economy too?
And you're worried about the damn Information Technology field? You had
better pull you head out for your ass and start looking around.
Roy Schestowitz
Hash: SHA1
____/ Rex Ballard on Saturday 20 September 2008 23:09 : \____
Well, this way he could fight 'them' without having the American 'folks' worry
about the huge debt. The SEC must have taken a trip to Maui. They failed to
spot the issues in SCO just months before bankruptcy.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Useless fact: Sharks are immune to cancer
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU is Not UNIX | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
http://iuron.com - proposing a non-profit search engine
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Rex Ballard
> Rex Ballard wrote:
> <snipped>
> The real money is in gold.
Gold increases value in times of inflation and times of panic.
When the economy is strong, gold goes down.
> You're worried about some MS BS when the
> financial world with major major financial players are going down the
> tubes here in the US. The bubble has busted, and it's got your little
> nest egg completely fucked-up and is fucking-up the world economy too?
My posts were from 2001 and 2005, and I pointed out what I saw to be a
systemic problem with the entire DOJ and FTC system. If they had been
doing their jobs for the last 8-10 years (yes, including the Clinton
administration), we might have been a bit better off than we are now.
Instead, Bush essentially tied the hands of the DOJ, FTC, SEC, and
Treasury, and told them "hands off", as people were sold bogus credit
under what was once criminal terms, and Republicans pushed to
eliminate the very safeguards that had been passed after the Great
Depression to prevent another one.
> And you're worried about the damn Information Technology field? You had
> better pull you head out for your ass and start looking around.
In the last 5 major recessions, it was the technology field that
turned the economy around.
Perhaps Bush is hoping to impose martial law if McCain loses?
Matt
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/2a10e11ef9cbffd0?dmode=source
>> While I was focused on Bush's handling of Microsoft, it seems that
>> Bush was also turning a blind eye to lots of other companies' illegal
>> business practices. In other cases, they were just unethical or
>> unsound.
>
> Well, this way he could fight 'them' without having the American 'folks' worry
> about the huge debt. The SEC must have taken a trip to Maui. They failed to
> spot the issues in SCO just months before bankruptcy.
SCO is peanuts except WRT the copyright/IP issue, which unless I'm wrong
is outside SEC's realm. I think they had something like a few hundred
employees. Anyway, it's not clear what you would have had SEC do WRT SCO.
I think most people would be happier if SEC had ignored a hundred
companies the size of SCO and instead focused on the practices that led
to the current crisis, which could involve amounts comparable to the US
annual budget.
Roy Schestowitz
Hash: SHA1
____/ Matt on Sunday 21 September 2008 16:44 : \____
Yes, I appreciate these thoughts because I totally agree and some days ago I
noticed Novell disappearing from a Bloomberg article that had been updated
twice after its initial publication. Therein, Novell expressed concerns about
the economy, indicating at at least insinuating that it may be in the mud
too. None of this is particularly surprising because Novell was at risk of
Nasdaq delisting in 2006-2007 and it had the SEC halt its report in 2007, then
launch an investigation.
Novell entered the deal with Microsoft just months or weeks after a lot of
dodgy financial stuff, including a reach to the bank (Wells Fargo, IIRC).
There's a prior kerkuffle too.
Novell fraud lawsuit settled for $13.9M.
,----[ Quote ]
| After more than seven years in the courts, Novell will spend $13.9 million to
| make a securities fraud class-action lawsuit go away.
`----
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0198-225344/Novell-fraud-lawsuit-settled-for.html
I did some sniffing around CA yesterday and the day before that. There's fraud
there which goes all the way to the top (with conviction), even fingers
pointing at the founder. They are also somewhat of a Microsoft puppet on the
face of it, just like Corel and Novell after some 'agreements'.
Oracle came under a probe too and Ellison is said to have destroyed evidence.
I'm appending some links.
What the companies tell the public is sometime based on projections and
outlooks. They can be in debt that's covered by assets and promise. You never
know until they go bust like Enron... and they 'bribe' whistleblowers to keep
it in the family, so to speak.
___
Apple options backdating litigation still not over
,----[ Quote ]
| Just when Apple watchers thought the backdated options issue was on the verge
| of being put to bed, another suit is taking the limelight.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20658/1054/
IMF'S FOUR STEPS TO DAMNATION
,----[ Quote ]
| And the US government knew it, charges Stiglitz, at least in the case
| of the biggest privatisation of all, the 1995 Russian sell-off. 'The
| US Treasury view was: "This was great, as we wanted Yeltsin
| re-elected. We DON'T CARE if it's a corrupt election." '
|
| Stiglitz cannot simply be dismissed as a conspiracy nutter. The man
| was inside the game - a member of Bill Clinton's cabinet, chairman of
| the President's council of economic advisers.
|
| Most sick-making for Stiglitz is that the US-backed oligarchs stripped
| Russia's industrial assets, with the effect that national output was
| cut nearly in half.
|
| After privatisation, Step Two is capital market liberalisation. In
| theory this allows investment capital to flow in and
| out. Unfortunately, as in Indonesia and Brazil, the money often simply
| flows out.
|
| Stiglitz calls this the 'hot money' cycle. Cash comes in for
| speculation in real estate and currency, then flees at the first whiff
| of trouble. A nation's reserves can drain in days.
`----
http://www.stallman.org/imf-damnation.html
Former Apple lawyer settles options case with SEC
,----[ Quote ]
| Former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen has settled with the SEC over
| charges that she improperly backdated stock options at the company.
`----
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10017199-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Apple agrees to pay itself $14m
,----[ Quote ]
| After an internal investigation, the company blamed ex-financial chief Fred
| Anderson and ex-general council Nancy Heinen for the trouble. Anderson
| settled with the SEC for $3.5m without admitting wrongdoing, and Heinen paid
| $2.2m just last month for a similar arrangement.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/11/apple_proposed_derivative_settlement/
Oracle's Ellison Withheld E-Mails in Suit, Judge Says (Update2)
,----[ Quote ]
| Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison deliberately destroyed or
| withheld e-mails and failed to preserve tape recordings that should have been
| turned over to lawyers for shareholders suing him, a judge ruled.
|
| U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said yesterday that the
| e-mails, as well as recordings of interviews for a book about Oracle founder
| Ellison called ``Softwar,'' were willfully withheld. Ellison and Oracle knew
| the material was potentially relevant to claims that they made false
| statements about the company's 2001 second-quarter financial results and
| problems with a software product, Illston said.
`----
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a9OHBiyXHVPQ&refer=us
SEC Foresees Rise in Fraud Cases
,----[ Quote ]
| Laying out his priorities, the new enforcement chief for the Securities and
| Exchange Commission in San Francisco said Thursday he expects an upswing in
| fraud cases against public companies.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202424479239
Ex-Microsoft boss sentenced
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/371393_msftcourt19.html
Former Microsoft Manager Gets 2 Years In Jail
http://news.portalit.net/fullnews_former-microsoft-manager-gets-2-years-in-jail_1427.html
Microsoft's Accounting Under Scrutiny
,----[ Quote ]
| The company has still not made enough information public to provide analysts
| with detailed information on the profitability of its MSN Internet business,
| Mr. Galvin said, adding, ''There's still room for them to obfuscate.''
`----
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A03E1DC173DF932A35754C0A96F958260
Microsoft - Undeserving of Libertarian Praise
,----[ Quote ]
| One strategy that Microsoft has employed in the past is paying for the
| silence of people and companies. Charles Pancerzewski, formerly Microsoft's
| chief auditor, became aware of Microsoft's practice of carrying earnings from
| one accounting period into another, known as "managing earnings". This
| practice smoothes reported revenue streams, increases share value, and
| misleads employees and shareholders. In addition to being unethical, it's
| also illegal under U.S. Securities Law and violates Generally Accepted
| Accounting Practices (Fink). Mr. Pancerzewski claims he was forced to retire,
| for raising the issue of deferred earnings with Microsoft executives, thereby
| making plausible deniability more difficult for said executives. He has since
| sued Microsoft, who responded by settling out of court, but also sealing the
| records to prevent public disclosure (Fink).
`----
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/8/20/11034/3908
Microsoft Agrees To Refrain From Accounting Violations in SEC Settlement
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has agreed to refrain from accounting violations to settle federal
| regulators' allegations that it misrepresented its financial performance, the
| government announced Monday.
|
| Under a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the software
| giant neither admitted to nor denied wrongdoing. No fine was imposed.
|
| The SEC alleged that Microsoft's accounting practices from July 1994 through
| June 1998 caused its income to be substantially misstated.
`----
http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18819490
"Microsoft Tax," MSN Enters the Black Hole, New Names for NT
,----[ Quote ]
| The lawsuit, filed last year by Mukilteo City Councilman Charles
| Pancerzewski, alleges that he was forced to resign as Microsoft's general
| auditor in January 1996 after working for the company's internal auditing
| department for more than four years. The suit claims that a "significantly
| younger man" with little auditing experience was picked to replace
| Pancerzewski, who was finally forced out because he discovered Microsoft
| might have been violating government regulations. Once Pancerzewski left the
| company he was replaced by the younger man, who his attorneys believe
| was "less prone to raise issues of possible legal improprieties which could
| threaten or embarrass Microsoft or its management.
`----
http://www.msboycott.com/news/98_06_22.shtml
SEC Investigating Microsoft Practices -- Earnings Manipulated, Former Employee
Contends
,----[ Quote]
| "The CFO to whom Charlie was reporting his concerns about illegality was the
| biggest advocate for the very illegality that was going on," Vial argued in
| court a year ago.
`----
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19990701&slug=2969514
Microfraud?
,----[ Quote ]
| THE ALLEGATIONS WERE shocking: For years, Microsoft has systematically
| distorted its profit figures in an effort to consistently beat Wall Street
| expectations and keep its stock price steadily rising. The false reports
| would violate SEC regulations, and amount to outright fraud.
|
| More shocking was the source of the allegations: Microsoft's chief of
| internal audits, Charlie Pancerzewski, who reported directly to the company's
| chief financial officer.
|
| Most shocking of all was what happened to Pancerzewski when he reported the
| suspicious bookkeeping to his supervisors, Microsoft CFO Mike Brown and chief
| operating officer Bob Herbold, in the spring of 1995. Soon afterward,
| Pancerzewski—who for nearly five years had received stellar performance
| evaluations—received his first-ever unsatisfactory one, and was eventually
| forced to resign.
|
| Two months ago, Microsoft quietly settled a lawsuit containing these
| allegations, filed in 1997 by Pancerzewski under the Whistleblowers
| Protection Act. The auditor claimed he was wrongfully terminated after
| telling his supervisors that Microsoft might be breaking securities and tax
| laws. The lawsuit made its tortuous way through several rounds of pretrial
| motions until last fall, when US District Judge Carolyn Dimmick denied
| Microsoft's final plea for summary judgment, finding credible evidence that
| Microsoft may have violated SEC rules, as Pancerzewski alleged. Shortly
| thereafter, Microsoft and Pancerzewski settled out of court. Terms of the
| agreement were sealed, but one source who claims familiarity with the case
| says that Microsoft paid Pancerzewski $4 million.
`----
http://web.archive.org/web/20070308032343rn_2/www.seattleweekly.com/1999-01-06/news/microfraud.php
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said.
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement
,----[ Quote ]
| To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities
| and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a
| result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the
| issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers."
`----
Microsoft's Bach sold more stock before Xbox news
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. executive Robbie Bach sold $3 million more in company stock
| during the period leading up to an announcement about a costly flaw in its
| Xbox video game console than previously reported, according to a filing
| Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
`----
Insider Trading Hasn't Affect Microsoft Stock - Yet
,----[ Quote ]
| MarketWatch.com reports that Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's
| Entertainment and Devices division, sold $6.2 million of Microsoft
| stock just prior to announcing that Microsoft was going to have to
| extend XBox 360 warranties to three years because of extensive
| failures. The filings note that this was not part of any
| scheduled diversification or selling program; this was a
| conscious, unscheduled sale by the guy in charge of releasing
| news that could affect the value of Microsoft stock.
|
| [...]
|
| Insider trading is a very serious violation of the law; just
| ask Martha Stewart, who served five months in prison for
| avoiding losses of $43,000 through trades that just had suspicious
| timing (no insider trading was actually proven). This is $6.3
| million that went straight into Robbie Bach's pocket.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070713/40947_id.html?.v=1
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Black holes are where God is divided by zero"
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Swap: 4088500k total, 903916k used, 3184584k free, 383352k cached
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
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Rex Ballard
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> >http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/msg/2a10e11ef9c...
> >> While I was focused on Bush's handling of Microsoft, it seems that
> >> Bush was also turning a blind eye to lots of other companies' illegal
> >> business practices. In other cases, they were just unethical or
> >> unsound.
> > Well, this way he could fight 'them' without
> > having the American 'folks' worry
> > about the huge debt. The SEC must have taken
> > a trip to Maui. They failed to
> > spot the issues in SCO just months before bankruptcy.
More likely, they did know what was going on. Wasn't one of the SCO
lawyers in the case Trent Lott's son? The SEC seems to be asleep at
the wheel, and letting lots of book juggling go by, even though it
makes the company look more successful than it really is.
Microsoft has been reporting higher revenue, and high profits, yet
their huge cash hoard is going fast. Appearantly Accounting 101 no
longer applies. Appearantly decreases in assets and/or increases in
liabilities is no longer part of the valuation of capital - since
profit is supposed to be the increase of capital over a period of
time.
Some of this has been the shift from cash to receivables - in effect
funding their revenue stream, then writing down the receivables.
> SCO is peanuts except WRT the copyright/IP issue, which unless I'm wrong
> is outside SEC's realm. I think they had something like a few hundred
> employees. Anyway, it's not clear what you would have had SEC do WRT SCO.
The SCO case was an attempt to set a multibillion dollar court
settlement. Had IBM settled, it would have implied that Linux was
"fair game" for IP "poachers" (people claiming patent rights or
copyrights over OSS code).
IBM was acutely aware, more aware than most, that OSS was published
and available for review, and if there was a claim on the IP rights,
other alternatives could easily be substituted. When IBM contributed
their scheduler, they were in competition with 5 other schedulers, and
the
Kernel team was very rigorous with all the candidates, making sure
that there was written verification that the code was original, that
it was
not a derivative of other proprietary products owned by some other
company, and that the offering authors would not assert patent or
copyright claims against Linux users.
The irony is that OSS producers - the people who organize and
coordinate OSS contributors, tend to be more fanatical about
copyrights and intellectual property than proprietary publishers,
BECAUSE the code is so public.
IBM not only got almost all of the claims summarily dismissed, but the
claims they did not ask to have dismissed, they are prepared to prove
that they, not SCO, owned. IBM can trace the code they gave to Linux
back to systems developed in the late 1960s, long before SCO even
existed, and before K&R had published their kernel, possibly even
before they started their kernel. Furthermore, IBM can prove - using
the Version 6 kernel, that AT&T had nothing like what IBM offered as
prior art.
> I think most people would be happier if SEC had ignored a hundred
> companies the size of SCO and instead focused on the practices that led
> to the current crisis, which could involve amounts comparable to the US
> annual budget.
The SEC has to walk a very fine line. They have to maintain a very
low profile, because even the slightest public leak of an SEC
investigation into irregularities can trigger a sell-off that drops
the price disproportionally to the actual irregularities. Enron's
numbers were only off by about 5% but the public nature of the
investigation triggered a 99% drop. WorldCom was only off by 2% but
the public investigation dropped it 99.9%. Investors, including
pension funds, 401K funds, and IRA mutual funds were hammered, many
watching their savings cut by half, and then by half again.
On the other hand, they still have to conduct the investigations as
discretely as possible, but they do have to conduct them. However,
much of the mortgage quality was outside their regulatory domain.
The treasury department is responsible for reviewing bank loans and
making sure that standard risk assessment standards are followed.
Until 1999, when the Republican Congress reversed the laws put in
place in the 1930s to prevent another Great Depression, these
guidelines were the law of the land. Deregulation let the banks
"fudge the numbers", doubling and even tripling the amount of mortgage
debt (and unsecured debt) that a family could borrow based on their
income and after-tax take-home pay.
The treasury department also has to walk that fine line between
diligence and discression. A leak about an investigation could
trigger a "run on the bank" with depositors and creditors shutting off
the bank's cash flow, making the problem exponentially worse than it
already is.
One of the reasons we had to go in and rescue these big banks was
because a run on those banks would have had the same effect as every
depositor going to every bank and demanding cash settlements
immediately, then declaring bankruptcy. It could have triggered a
loss of all assets for about 30 million families, including assets
used to pay pensions, assets used to pay annuities, and even assets
used to pay federal and state entitlements.
Imagine what would happen if 30 million people suddenly had no income,
had no home, and no credit. It would only be a matter of weeks before
they were trying to get themselves arrested by breaking store windows,
just so that they could eat.
Younger people would turn to crime, using guns and incendiaries to
create diversions and raid the homes of the middle class, or anyone
else who still had resources such as food, money, fuel, or even a warm
home.
There would also be a huge surge in "White Collar" crime, with hackers
going "full criminal", pulling huge quantities of cash from credit
card rubbings and other bank accounts.
Tax evasion would escalate, as people raid their 401K savings to
survive, and then disappear from the IRS radar for several years. Not
because they want to break the law, but because they have no funds to
pay the taxes.
As the cities were drained of resources, city dwellers would turn to
rural areas, stealing from farmers, burning them out, even killing the
farmers to get their crops. Imagine 80% of the population suddenly
using guns and automatic weapons against small towns and farmers,
first to get the grain stored in silos, then to get the seed grain, as
food.
Eventually, the survivors would end up in national forests, shooting
game and fishing, and killing any people they see as well, even
canabalizing them.
As they ran out of ammunition, survivors would turn to more primitive
weapons, including knives, bow and arrow, and eventually to stone-age
tools.
It would be be like the fall of the Roman Empire that eventually
devolved into the Viking raiders. But instead of taking several
hundred years, it might only take 10-15 years.
This is what the government is now trying to prevent. The biggest
problem is that the international community could still "pull the
plug", refusing to sell us key resources like Oil, food, and other
things we've come to depend on, and with no cash-flow to fund
solutions, it could still happen.