News Ex-ASML employee sentenced to three years' imprisonment for sharing company secrets with Russia

[Admin]

An ex-ASML employee has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for sharing company secrets with a Russian contact.

Ex-ASML employee sentenced to three years' imprisonment for sharing company secrets with Russia : Read more

 

[bit_user]

the sentence was reduced in length, from the four years sought by the prosecution, as there was no proof that the man acted for financial gain.

I think the motive is irrelevant.

3 years is almost a slap on the wrist, especially for someone to do this on ideological grounds. To be a meaningful disincentive against anyone doing any more than casual data theft, it should be more like 10 years.

 

[Constellar]

I think the motive is irrelevant.

3 years is almost a slap on the wrist, especially for someone to do this on ideological grounds. To be a meaningful disincentive against anyone doing any more than casual data theft, it should be more like 10 years.

I was thinking the same thing--of the motive is ideological, then indeed, the penalty should be more severe than had the motive been for financial gain.
Am average Joe making a small batch of crack cocaine for personal use is going to get the 10-year mandatory minimum just for making a day's supply. This guy is jeopardizing the technological edge that top fabs worked hard for through their blood sweat and toil and he's only going to jail for 1/3rd the time.

 

[bit_user]

I was thinking the same thing--of the motive is ideological, then indeed, the penalty should be more severe than had the motive been for financial gain.

Normally, I would say motive shouldn't really matter, so long as there was knowing intent behind the violation. However, the article cites new laws that were recently drafted, and an ideologically-driven violation of those laws does indeed seem to go against their very spirit. So, I'd agree that it should lead to a more serious penalty, if anything.