Conference 7.286::digital

Don't assume things were leaked by a Digital employee.  As has been
said a million million times, the networks can NOT be presumed to
be secure.

- greg

    
    Also do not assume the leaks were by a CURRENT employee.
    
    - fred
    

    However, maybe the caveat, 
    
    	"You shouldn't write anything in a notes file that you 
    	 wouldn't want to show up on your resume" 
    
    should be changed to,
    
    	"You shouldn't write anything in a notes file that you
    	 wouldn't want to show up in the Wall Street Journal."

    Re .0
    
    I think it's a bit presumptuous of you to flame the noters in this
    conference.  Many topics, such as Paul's memo, are widely circulated
    via E-mail and hard-copy.  
    
    It's very likely these leaks came from people outside the noting
    community.
    
    Evelyn 

re: .*

First, I agree with all of you.

Second, regardless of who leaked it or where they got it from, somebody in
the chain got it in here (DIGITAL.NOTE) first, most likely.

Now, I'm not proposing this, and I'm not in favor of it, but wouldn't it seem
that if you've got a source of so much "good stuff" like DIGITAL.NOTE which
could find it's way to the outside world unintentionally, that it would become
of some concern as to whether or not you let it continue unreined?

I don't want to see it happen, but it just might be inevitable.

-Jack

    re .0
    
    Let's not be so naive as to assume that the information "LEAKED" was a
    revelation to anyone in the financial community.  That note could
    probably have been written by about 3/4ths of the analysts on Wall
    Street.   
    

re: .6

Nah. The quotes were directly from Kinzelman's memo. It had to come from inside
somehow. There's no way 3/4 of the WS analysts could have been privy to that.

-Jack

    re: .3
    
    "You shouldn't write anything in a notes file that you wouldn't want to
    show up in the Wall Street Journal, attributed to you."
        John Sauter

I saw the infamous memo to Jack Smith - the one that said, "dear jack, here's
3 things to do in our tenuous situation: 1 Dont Panic, 2 Dont Panic, 3 Dont 
Panic."

		on the cafeteria bulletin board at Littleton, Ma.  - LKG !

Dont tell me customers arent in that caf every single day.  Is this the memo
from Paul K that you are talking about? If so...no wonder its public now.

re: .9

The memo alluded to is in 1223.0. The article alluded to in this base note,
I believe, is the WSJ article from yesterday which is in todays VNS.

Then again, maybe this basenote refers to yet another article.

-Jack

    re .5: "... somebody in the chain got it in here (DIGITAL.NOTE) first,
           most likely."
    
    I got a copy via mail BEFORE it appeared in the DIGITAL conference.

    Maybe if the powers-that-be did not move so incredibly slowly, it
    wouldn't really make that much difference.

re: .9,

> I saw the infamous memo to Jack Smith - the one that said, "dear jack, here's
> 3 things to do in our tenuous situation: 1 Dont Panic, 2 Dont Panic, 3 Dont 
> Panic."
>
>		on the cafeteria bulletin board at Littleton, Ma.  - LKG !
>
> Dont tell me customers arent in that caf every single day.  Is this the memo
> from Paul K that you are talking about? If so...no wonder its public now.

	Of course customers are here every single day.  Many of them are
    are flying in to take courses in DECmcc (after all, it's arguably the
    largest and most exciting piece of software from DEC to hit the market
    since VAX/VMS).

	It's gotten so bad that someone recently taped little pieces of
    paper up on walls in hallways and on bathroom doors warning people
    not to discuss anything important too loudly as there are customers
    stalking the halls & stalls (or words to that effect).

				   -davo
		    (DECmcc DNA4 Access Module Developer)

    There are several issues here.

    One is the expression of constructive criticism.  Another is the wide
    internal dissemination of such criticism throughout the company.
    And the possibility of it passing outside the company.

    And the final one that we concern ourselves with here is the agenda 
    and motivation of the human agent of that external transmission, if
    indeed it was a employee who would be ethically bound not to embarrass
    the company.
    
    Frankly, I'm concerned more with the morale that is behind these
    incidents than I am with the modality and media that got it into the
    Wall Street Journal.

    
    
    
    	I think what .0 was doing was releasing his feelings through 
     this medium which does reach a good chunk of the population in DEC.
     According to the WSJ the information was from inside sources which
     makes me feel the same way .0 does.... KNOCK IT OFF. Irreparable
     damage is caused by leaking such info... can you imagine what 
     happened to any sales people who have entered negotiations in the 
     last couple of days, the power that such an article has
     given to a customer???  "Gee Mr/Ms DEC Sales Rep, I hear you are
     under pressure, and your company isn't doing too well.... that means
      you have to give me just about everything under the sun before I 
      sign this deal!  
              The WSJ article mentioned that it has seen memo's that have 
     been floating around the exec's offices regarding the layoffs.  Those
     weren't picked up in the Cafe in some facility.  I think leaking info
      is a serious problem and that .0 merely entered it in here in hopes
    that maybe the culprit is a Read Only noter.  Please don't take it
      personally people, we all need a chance to express our frustrations!
    
    	Bill
    

    A small clarification.
    
    I visit 4-10 customer sites a week. After all I'm a sales support type 
    and that's a big part of my job. And the part I think I do best. But
    yes, I get frustrated - who doesn't from time to time? However, in this
    case (it was the WSJ) I think someone from within the company went out
    of their way to esentially make us look bad. And customers pick up on
    that in a minute. 
    
    re: .15
    
    Bingo!!!!
    
    If you are ever in MN; look me up. The steak, cold beer, and green fees
    are on me. That is of course during the more milder weather conditions.
    
    Gene.

    re .15
    
    To be quite cynical, it was probably a VP that leaked the memos,
    as a rather nasty ploy to force an issue.  This seems to be the
    norm in the U.S. government, at least - the administration, while
    accusing Congress of being a security hole, is actually the source
    of most "leaks" - it's a weapon in inter and intra-agency jockeying.
    
    /Dave

    
    Yesterday I was talking to my neighbor in a christmas party. He works 
    for one of our major customers. He told me that our competition sales 
    reps are already making jokes about the WSJ article on TENSE STAND OFF 
    and cashing in on it.  I wonder how awkward it will be for our sales 
    reps, when the customer asks about the WSJ article.
    
    

    re 16 & others - I'm in sales support too, I was asked about the WSJ
    article on Thursday and replied that I'd read in the Enquirer that
    Elvis had been spotted on Mars by the Hubble telescope - when you have
    no answer, humour is about all you've got! - these leaks, intentional
    or not are getting old....
    				Dave.

    In an organisation of 100,000+ people, leaks occur. I guess we live
    with it and deal with it as best we can.
    
    frankly, I blame the readers of this conference not a jot. Even if some
    twit extracted the info out of this conference and gave it to the WSJ,
    what does that really say, other than in 100,0000+ people you can find
    at least one fool?
    
    	- andy

    I have to agree whole heartedly with Andy in .20.
    
    We live in an imperfect world full of imperfect people. So these kind
    of things are bound to happen. Unfortuneately.
    
    Gene

    
    RE:.0,.last...

Gene, Regardless of the folks who will gove you all the excuses or reasons 
of why WSJ got that info.....

    You are absolutley right to be mad, and I'm glad you expressed it so 
well....WSJ is aparently not much better than some of the other tabloids on 
the newstands today.....if you can't write real news, just find something 
to write that is juicy and will sell papers.

    Vic

I agree it's embarrassing to have your "dirty laundry" aired in public.
Still there is something positive about a company of 100,000+ linked 
together electronically.    These messages and discussion were communicated
world-wide faster than the "traditional" corporate "grape-vine."

"These things happen in any company, they just happen faster in networked
company",  or "When deciding between limited inter-corporate communication or 
open electronic communication between workers, Digital believes the informed,
involved employee is the more valuable resource."  

		Well, maybe not.  8^)

			Bob Cohen

    I tend to think along the lines that a higher-up did the leak.  This
    because what WSJ reporter would run an article like that based on
    papers that were given by somebody that's low in the organization?
    What editor would allow such an article to be printed?  The other
    conclusion is that the newspaper has taken to sensationalism like the
    Enquirer ...
    
    Steve

Speaking of leaks, I wonder where WMUR TV Channel 9, Manchester NH,  got 
the information they broadcast on Friday Dec 14th that Digital Equipment
Corporation is laying off 20,000 employees in New England in January 1991 ?

Both the number and date apears spectacularly specific, but I have not
seen anything remotely resembling this in any other broadcast media.

Th memo that was circulated allegedly from Ken Olsen (or someone else 
whose initials are KO) on Monday 17-Dec-1990 seem to be in contradiction
to this News tidbit.

Did anyone else catch this, or can add or detract to this bit ?

-Bob Early

    As I recall there are only 34k DECcies in NNE!

    re: .27
    
    I can see it now... legions of wild-eyed analysts and reporters rushing
    to their typewriters/word processors/crayons to report on DEC's impending
    60% layoff in the Northeast (20K out of 34K employees), based upon yet
    another interloper leaking this discussion to the press!
    
    8-).

    Have there been any official comments from Ken or Jack Smith refuting
    the validity of the WSJ article?  I haven't seen or heard of any...

    re: .29 I saw an article last week that said that a Digital spokesman
    denied that our auditor had written a report critical of the company.
    That's the only thing I've heard denied. 

    		Alfred

    The report on the 20K layoff came from WMUR-TV's pet business expert,
    Prof Dumbrowski (sp?) from UNH.
    
    This is the same man who predicted $40 a barrel oil, and close to
    $2.00/gal gas at middle of October; Predicted the Dow could hit a low
    of 1800-2000 as of year's end due to the Gulf crisis; ...
    
    The only thing that is consistant is that he gets up on camera every
    Friday, for the business report, states with complete certainty he
    knows the future citing "Friends on Wall Street" (probably former 
    students). The only problem is that he is more often than not wrong.
    
    /jim

    Would somebody please leak a story saying that we have a lot of
    talented, motivated employees building a lot of great products at DEC?
    
    Oh, not newsworthy enough?
    
    Sigh.

re: 1314.32

The problem is most of the significant leaks likely come from disgruntled 
employees, they are unlikely to spread a fact such as the one in .32.

re .33:

Where are the gruntled employees when we need them?