Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee’s personal device

Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by chki on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @07:12PM (#14046545)

That is a very american perspective though. In Germany you are not allowed to fire someone for these reasons (you might be able to dismiss him for no reason at all but the contract will not be over for quite a long time) So the authority of a company firing somebody over not handing over their laptop can be reasonably questioned.

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by dragonwriter on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @07:23PM (#14046605)

> That is a very american perspective though.

Yes, and this case is between American parties, under American law, in the U.S. (of America) District Court for the Northern District of California.

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by chki on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @08:04PM (#14046835)

I'm aware of that and just wanted to point out why this american perspective can be questioned, which was -in my opinion- the intend of "08-15".

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by WrtCdEvrydy on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @07:24PM (#14046611)

As long as it's not discrimination based, you can fire someone for any reason.

My boss could fire me for disliking the color of my T-Shirt this morning.

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by dragonwriter on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @07:26PM (#14046624)

> As long as it's not discrimination based, you can fire someone for any reason.

Every decision to choose one course of action over another is "discrimination-based"; you mean as long as it is not discrimination on an expressly-prohibited basis.

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by johncolanduoni on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @07:47PM (#14046744)

That depends a lot on jurisdiction. It's not even true for every job/state combination in the US.

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by geofft on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @08:48PM (#14047033)

But what are Germany's laws about discovery? This seems like a problem that would have occurred even before computers: if an executive is handwriting letters at home to engage in illegal activity for the benefit of their company, does a German court have authority to search the home?

This is an American case, and it's being litigated in accordance with American law, so the judge is using American rules about employment to achieve the goal here. I would be surprised if there weren't some way to accomplish the same goal in Germany.

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Re:Uber finds one allegedly stolen Waymo file on an employee... by matt4077 on Wednesday April 05, 2017 @11:58PM (#14047826)

The comment you're replying to wasn't meant as a comment on the case, but to rebut the idea that "at-will employment" is some sort of universally-valid, natural state. It's just one of many possible answers, and every society has come up with their own.

Regarding discovery, I must say that the US system is actually more advanced than Germany, where, in civil law, there isn't really a doctrine for recovering incriminating evidence (or otherwise compelling evidence) from the opposite side, apart from a few specific circumstances.

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