> Perhaps I have a negative view of companies as well, but
> when he said he programmed it on company time, and wouldn't
> give up the password, I was surprised that the company
> didn't just sue him for not giving up company property.
When I read that part, I realized I'm quite lucky I took a course on the basics of Dutch IP laws, in particular those pertaining to software and digital rights.
If he wrote it on company time, it just means that the copyright of the program belongs to the company.
I'm not aware of any law stating he should give up a password though. Copyright just gives one the rights to reproduce and make public a work. It does not give a copyright-holder the right to demand a copy of the work from whoever has a copy.
I wonder how he passworded it. The exact way might make some difference. I assume it was a scripting language, so I guess he put the script in a passworded ZIP-file that he unpacked every time he needed it? Any other way would be easily circumvented by reading the code.
I agree it is a very strange story. Not very unlikely, just strange. Also strange that nobody else got the idea this data-entry might be automated.
When I read that part, I realized I'm quite lucky I took a course on the basics of Dutch IP laws, in particular those pertaining to software and digital rights.
If he wrote it on company time, it just means that the copyright of the program belongs to the company.
I'm not aware of any law stating he should give up a password though. Copyright just gives one the rights to reproduce and make public a work. It does not give a copyright-holder the right to demand a copy of the work from whoever has a copy.
I wonder how he passworded it. The exact way might make some difference. I assume it was a scripting language, so I guess he put the script in a passworded ZIP-file that he unpacked every time he needed it? Any other way would be easily circumvented by reading the code.
I agree it is a very strange story. Not very unlikely, just strange. Also strange that nobody else got the idea this data-entry might be automated.