Feds launch criminal probe of eBay employees over Craigslist data poaching

By Andrew Couts September 14, 2011

ebay — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Federal prosecutors in the United States have launched a criminal probe to discover whether eBay employees, including founder and Chairman Pierre Omidyar, used confidential information from classified ads giant Craigslist in an attempt to build its competing business, reports Reuters. The probe comes after years of legal battles in civil courts between the two companies over allegations that eBay purchased a stake in Craigslist for the sole purpose of poaching its private business data.

According to a copy of a grand jury subpoena obtained by Reuters, the probe has also put former Skype chief executive Joshua Silverman, who represented eBay on Craigslist’s board of directors, under the legal microscope.

Recommended Videos

Amanda Miller, an eBay spokeswoman, told Reuters that the company plans to fully cooperate with the prosecutors’ inquiries, but stipulates that eBay does not believe any allegations of misconduct on the part of eBay employees made by Craigslist.

“EBay believes that Craigslist’s allegations against eBay are without merit,” said Miller in an email to Reuters. “We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves, and we will aggressively pursue our claims against Craigslist.”

The subpoena seeks information concerning “incidents where eBay employees engaged in alleged criminal activities and misconduct focused around the misappropriation of proprietary/confidential information from Craigslist.”

These incidents include a February 2005 request by Omidyar about how Craigslist went about adding new cities to its roster, as well as information about when Craigslist planned to launch in new cities, the subpoena says.

Another instance in question is a March 2007 transaction, in which eBay’s then-general counsel, Brian Levey, forwarded Craigslist’s confidential financial information pertaining to 2004 to 2007 to a team of eBay employees that was working to build what would become eBay Classifieds. It is not clear whether eBay management knew about Levey’s actions.

[Image via]

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.