| Robert 2002-08-30, 8:28 pm |
| Down In The Dumps
Braindump site owner pleads guilty in court
Cramsession was both pleased and disturbed by this news story about the
owner of the now dead braindump sites CheetSheets.com and
Cheet-Sheets.com pleading guilty to the theft of trade secrets in
federal court. We were pleased because we are vehemently against
braindump sites... but we were disturbed by some of the responses to
this story that appeared on the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX website. More on that in
a moment.
The whole thing began over a year ago when Microsoft filed a complaint
with the FBI alleging that Robert Keppel, the owner/operator of
CheetSheets.com, was selling products that contained actual test
questions taken verbatim from Microsoft MCSE and MCSD certification
exams. In September 2001, the FBI made its move on Keppel, seizing a
great deal of evidence. The evidence showed that Keppel had arranged to
purchase MS exam questions from a source in Pakistan, who had obtained
questions by photographing or videotaping the exams at a Pakistani test
center. Keppel began selling these questions sometime in 1999. It's
obvious that there was a lot of demand for this material: Keppel's
merchant credit card account records showed that his business made over
$750,000. FBI agents also seized a Lexus, a Ferrari, and over $50,000 in
cash from Keppel.
After communicating with Keppel in late 2001, the US Attorney's Office
negotiated a plea bargain with him. Keppel agreed to enter a plea of
guilty, but there's no word yet on how severe his sentence will be.
Under the law, Keppel could receive up to ten years in prison and
$250,000 in fines. He is due to be sentenced on November 1, 2002. Keppel
also had to relinquish the Lexus and the Ferrari as part of the plea
bargain. (Maybe his source in Pakistan will arrange to pick them up at a
police auction.)
This marks the first time the "theft of trade secrets" statute has been
used in a criminal case concerning IT certification testing. Ironically,
indications are that certain customers who purchased CheetSheets were
the ones who informed Microsoft that the product contained test
questions taken directly from MS certification exams.
The conviction of Robert Keppel is a major victory not only for
Microsoft, but for Microsoft Certified Professionals around the world.
Those individuals who use braindumps to pass exams and become certified
hold a large measure of responsibility for lowering the value of IT
certifications. Those who look to "beat the system" by cheating their
way through a certification track are not only cheating themselves, but
everyone else who achieves that certification through skill and hard work.
There is a disturbing epilogue to this story, found in the reader
comments that accompany the article covering this event on the
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX website. Here is a small sampling of those comments:
(Responses were not edited for spelling or grammar)
"Not that I support cheating, but MICROSOFT deserves all this. They are
the biggest cheaters of all when they try to cheat us of our dollars
with their tricky stupid test questions."
"So if someone offers me the chance to learn more about the test, and
it's trick questions...at that point, who is stealing from who? Sure
it's wrong to do this. But which is the lesser evil? Microsnot (which is
worth billions upon billions) bilking me for a $100 a whack for a test
full of trick questions...or some guy helping me understand those
questions?"
"Microsh*t of all companies shouldn't be crying about this one. Sorry,
but they have made millions testing people, and I doubt they really care
how much a paper MCSE knows or doesn't... So the ones crying about this
is a law that was broken, WAHHHH. So what! There's a lot of us that
think there are not only too many stupid laws, but also too many stupid
lawyers, screwing up a lot of our lives."
"They should just let this braindump stuff be as far as I am concerned.
What difference will it make anyway stopping dumps. In the first place,
the man did not hide himself or did anything under cover from day one.
Microsoft should device a more clever means for setting thier questions.
THAT ALL!!"
To be fair, there were people who responded to the article who applauded
Microsoft for going after someone who was illegally selling its
intellectual property. This being said, the attitudes expressed in the
above responses--the truculent, snide opinion that Microsoft deserves
whatever it gets because it makes money, or because its test questions
are too 'tricky', or that the end justifies the means when it comes to
cheating your way through an exam--they are disconcerting to say the least.
(The fact that Keppler's source in Pakistan is walking around free and
unpunished, is a topic worthy of discussion in a future issue of MKN.)
What do you think? Should braindump sites that print stolen exam
questions be left alone, or should certification vendors like Microsoft,
CompTIA, and others go after these individuals? Let us know what you
think in the MKN Forum.
--
Robert
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