Be Wary of the Powerful

When you sue a giant multinational corporation for anti-competitive actions such as forcing end users to purchase their equipment to receive normally free software bug fixes, you have got to be ready for them to come after you from every angle. In jail, it is a little difficult to continue your lawsuit without a settlement out of court.

This is one of those fascinating stories that involve government acting quickly to apprehend a heinous criminal before wondering later, "Er, why exactly was it so urgent to arrest this guy?"

Cisco accused of orchestrating engineer's arrest

The arrest of Peter Alfred-Adekeye was retaliation for a lawsuit, his company claimed

By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
April 20, 2011 09:37 PM ET

Sponsored by:

Cisco Systems orchestrated the arrest of Multiven founder Peter Alfred-Adekeye last year in order to force a settlement of Multiven's antitrust lawsuit against Cisco, a Multiven executive said on Wednesday.
Multiven, an independent provider of service and support for networking gear, sued Cisco in 2008, alleging that the company monopolized the market for its software. Cisco countersued, charging that Alfred-Adekeye hacked into Cisco's computers and stole copyrighted software.
In May 2010, Alfred-Adekeye was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, on 97 counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer system without authorization for the purposes of commercial advantage, according to his arrest warrant. He could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine if convicted. The arrest came to light only this week after local Vancouver press reported it.

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Cisco Systems orchestrated the arrest of Multiven founder Peter Alfred-Adekeye last year in order to force a settlement of Multiven's antitrust lawsuit against Cisco, a Multiven executive said on Wednesday.

Multiven, an independent provider of service and support for networking gear, sued Cisco in 2008, alleging that the company monopolized the market for its software. Cisco countersued, charging that Alfred-Adekeye hacked into Cisco's computers and stole copyrighted software.
In May 2010, Alfred-Adekeye was arrested in Vancouver, Canada, on 97 counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer system without authorization for the purposes of commercial advantage, according to his arrest warrant. He could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine if convicted. The arrest came to light only this week after local Vancouver press reported it.
After 28 days, he was released on bail, but he has not been able to leave Canada since then, said Deka Yussuf, an executive vice president of Multiven in charge of marketing and public relations. Multiven is based in Redwood City, California, but Alfred-Adekeye lives in Zurich, she said.

The case has been stalled for the past 10 months because the U.S. Attorney's office has not been able to present the evidence required to extradite Alfred-Adekeye, Yussuf said. Alfred-Adekeye's lawyers believe the U.S. officials may have misled Canadian authorities about the need to arrest and extradite him, and they initiated hearings that are going on now in Vancouver to investigate this possibility, she said.
After the arrest last May, Cisco and Multiven settled the civil case in July. But Cisco is behind the entire criminal case, according to Yussuf.
"We believe this is Cisco's retaliation to the landmark antitrust lawsuit that Multiven brought against Cisco," Yussuf said. "It is our belief that Cisco has engineered this entire criminal arrest and litigation against Adekeye to force Multiven to settle."
Before the arrest, Multiven's case had been near to going before a jury, Yussuf said.
Cisco dismissed Multiven's accusation in a written statement.
"This is an absurd claim from Multiven. This case is a matter between US and Canadian governmental authorities. We understand that the genesis of the extradition request was an arrest warrant issued by a U.S. judge, which was based on a criminal complaint returned by a Secret Service Special Agent," Cisco said.
Alfred-Adekeye was unexpectedly arrested while giving a deposition to Cisco's lawyers at Vancouver's Wedgewood Hotel.
Multiven's suit alleged that Cisco forced owners of its equipment to buy Cisco SMARTnet service contracts in order to get software updates and bug fixes. That locks out independent companies such as Multiven, the suit said.
"We alleged that Cisco is harming consumers and the marketplace and competitors like Multiven ... by forcing their customers to purchase SMARTnet agreements with (Cisco) to obtain the critical software bug fixes, which should be made available to any customer who has purchased any software," Yussuf said.
Multiven's concerns echoed those expressed by some customers, who have complained that Cisco should fix its own bugs free of charge just as other companies such as Apple and Microsoft do. Some users have said the problem becomes complicated with second-hand and refurbished hardware. Cisco service contracts can't be transferred from one user to another, so buyers of used gear typically have to send the product in for inspection by Cisco before they can purchase a new contract, which can be an expensive process. Also, there may not be SMARTnet contracts available for discontinued products.
There is a large market for used Cisco equipment, fed by both buyers who can't afford new gear and those who need a router or switch model that is currently unavailable new, according to Brad Reese, research manager at BradReese.Com, which sells refurbished networking gear and services. He estimates the worldwide secondary market for networking gear at $2 billion, with 90 percent of sales being Cisco equipment.
Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

All contents copyright 1995-2011 Network World, Inc. http://www.networkworld.com

Cops Charged After Botched Pot Raid

You hear this kind of stuff all the time but this is especially blatant. Cops decide to help themselves to a persons personal property without any justification whatsoever.

Raiding someones house and finding a negligible amount of marijuana does not allow government employees a right to plunder everything they can from a suspect's home.

The war on drugs is truly a war on our rights.

Here is the story:

Graphic: Action News
The corrupt cops were caught on tape discussing the spoils of their "drug raid" -- which netted a quarter-ounce of marijuana.
​​Two Michigan police officers have been criminally charged after being caught on tape during a botched marijuana raid.

Lt. Luke Davis and Lt. Emmanuel Riopelle face dozens of charges in the case, reports Action News WXYZ. Davis headed the undercover narcotics unit. The indictment alleges that he and the others sold drugs and confiscated goods for personal profit.

The rogue cops were caught on audio tape by a local man, Rudy Simpson, during a pot raid (you can hear the audio at the end of this story). Simpson alleges he was the victim of heavy-handed and unprofessional police tactics during the raid on his home. Of course, it was just business as usual for the cops -- except this time, a tape was rolling.



Photo: Action News
Drug Task Force head Lt. Luke Davis, right, allegedly sold drugs and confiscated goods for personal profit.
​The case centers around Lt. Davis, who now faces corruption charges. The OMNI Drug Task Force, headed by Davis, executed a search warrant on Simpson's Monroe County home in June of 2008. They based the search on an anonymous tip and a single marijuana stem they claimed they found in his garbage.

When the cops busted in, Rudy's band was practicing in his basement recording studio.

What the dumb-ass police didn't know is that the microphones were on, and everything was being recorded.

"They have a recording studio? What the fuck," said one cop.

"I hope they're not mixing," said another.

But they were mixing, and the two clueless cops take turns (badly) singing on the microphone, unaware that their "performance" is being recorded.

While those cops were goofing in the basement, Rudy, his friend Jeremy and members of the band were taken upstairs, where Lt. Davis and other task force members were tossing the house.

They said they were shocked by the behavior of the police.

"Very unprofessional, almost thuggish," Simpson said. "I felt violated, and almost like it was a game to them."

The cops were "going in the kitchen cabinets, eating cookies," said Simpson's friend. "Going in the refrigerator, eating stuff out of the refrigerator.

"It was very unprofessional," he said.

And what did these big, tough "Drug Task Force" cops find? Only a quarter-ounce of marijuana, 12 tiny sprouts in a pot which they claimed were marijuana, and half of a pain pill -- for which Rudy later produced a prescription.

The men said the cops seemed more interested in Rudy's costly music equipment than in the scant amount of marijuana they found.

"Basically what I heard them talking about is what equipment, what materialistic stuff they could take out of my house," Simpson said. "It seems like ... that they were just trying to figure out what they could come out of here with."

"At least a quarter-ounce here; he's gonna give us a chance to frickin' take all this stuff, according to Luke," one of the cops is heard saying on the tape.

The police wound up stealing, I mean "confiscating" three pages' worth of stuff from the home, including a generous helping of Rudy's personal property: a 52-inch flat-screen TV, a DVD player, two computers, a camera and a bunch of DVDs.

Under the law, police are only supposed to confiscate property that was purchased with money earned from drug sales.

"Where was there evidence that you were distributing or selling drugs?" asked Action News investigator Scott Lewis.

"There was none," said Simpson. "There was no sales, there was no undercover cops. There was nothing on paper ... it was basically an anonymous tip, they said."

The corruption charges surrounding Lt. Davis raise serious questions, according to Action News, not only about the thuggish conduct of the officers but also about Michigan's drug forfeiture laws.

A report from a civil liberties group called The Justice Institute grades the forfeiture laws of each state. Michigan gets a "D minus."

In Michigan, cops can seize your property with nothing more than "probable cause," and they are well aware of this. They don't need any proof beyond a reasonable doubt, as they do in many other states.

They can even take your property without charging you with any crime! And as Action News learned, that's what apparently happened.

Rudy Simpson was charged for the quarter-ounce of marijuana and half a pain pill, even though he had a prescription for the pill. Simpson had another marijuana charge from years ago, and he said the prosecutor was playing hardball.

"You either take the charge for half a Lorcet (from the prescription I had) or we're gonna hit you as a habitual, and you're looking at prison time for a quarter ounce of weed," he said.

Simpson, believing he had no choice, pleaded guilty and did some time in a halfway house. He said he decided to come forward with his story after he heard Action News was investigating the Luke Davis corruption case.

Rudy said the OMINI Narcotics crew also took $400 cash and a gold ring that was never even listed on the search warrant return. That allegation, of course, was denied by the prosecutor in court records.

Expect this to keep happening until you get sick enough of it to do something.


Tags: caught on tape,michigan,raid


http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/03/cops_charged_after_being_caught_on_tape_in_botched.php