[uuilly]

I used to work for Anthony at 510 systems. He tried to hire me for Otto as well. Watching this whole thing unfold from, obscure story in 2011 to the Waymo Vs. Uber trial to federal charges and national news is rather surreal. Anthony is one of the most creative, energetic thinkers I've ever encountered. If he stopped taking shortcuts he'd probably be the next Jobs or Musk.

[methehack]

That's tragic and awful. I think calling this a "shortcut" though is misleading, at least from what the times is reporting here.

It's one thing to own your own brain, it's another take 14K files, including circuit board designs and lidar designs. It's yet another to start using them at new-co that is a direct competitor to old-co. I'm by no means an IP fanatic, but that really does cross over to theft in my mind. But, on balance, the very specific details really matter here, so we'll see...

[magduf]

Taking PCB design files and using them at a competing company absolutely is IP theft. I'm honestly surprised anyone would think they could even get away with this; the old company just has to get their hands on one of the competitor's units and open it up and look at it.

[driven20]

Serious question open to anyone.

What is the line between "short cut" and "working smarter"?

It's not related to this post. Stealing is wrong. It just seems to me the line between being efficient and taking short cuts is really murky.

[bksenior]

Hah!

Jobs and Musk are walking shortcuts. Anthony's biggest mistake is that he got caught by a corporation motivated to pursue.

[paul7986]

A corporation (Google) who steals IP themselves. They steal from big fish to the little dreamers they inspired and such is well documented. See this popular HN thread... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18566929

I use to feel bad for Google and wanted this thief to face justice. But umm he's just doing what he witnessed and was taught(told) to do while working for the big G.

[pslam]

I have no idea about this guy, but in my experience, people like this always seem to be pleasant, creative types on the outside. Every now and then in conversation they hold weird viewpoints you just can't reconcile with their projected image, and wonder if you've misjudged them.

They usually turn out to have an underlying wonky or absent moral compass, and abusive personality traits.

The outward image is a confidence trick, and that's how they got where they are.

[CalChris]

Lewandowski evidently was very creative. I don't think that's in any doubt. His Google Maps work is genius.

[monktastic1]

Former coworker of his here. As anyone who knew him well will attest, his favorite quote (from his favorite character) was "I drink your milkshake."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5d9BrLN5K4

There's more to say, but I'm not sure it's worth sharing on HN.

[coldtea]

>If he stopped taking shortcuts he'd probably be the next Jobs or Musk.

Didn't these ended up where they are by taking all kinds of shortcuts?

[ScottFree]

What shortcuts did they take? Maybe the key is knowing which shortcuts.

[TCR19]

"Good artists copy, Great artists steal" or something along those lines.

[paxys]

I feel like calling this a "shortcut" is putting it a bit mildly. He just got criminally indicted.

[AndrewBissell]

Musk will be the next Levandowski.

[dmix]

People have such an impetus for Musk's downfall but a few off colour or poorly thought out tweets is nothing compared to something as criminal as downloading everything from your company before starting a competitor. Or worse while you work on the competitor on the side even before leaving the company.

Anthony should have known that files are easily tracked in a place like Google and that he'd put a giant spotlight on himself by competing with Google's future golden goose.