Professor Gets 4 Years in Prison for Sharing Drone Plans With Students 354
Hugh Pickens writes "Retired University of Tennessee Professor Dr. John Reece Roth has been sentenced to four years in prison after he allowed a Chinese graduate student to see sensitive information on Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones. In 2004, the company Roth helped found, Atmospheric Glow Technologies, won a US Air Force contract to develop a plasma actuator that could help reduce drag on the wings of drones, such as the ones the military uses. Under the contract, for which Roth was reportedly paid $6,000, he was prohibited from sharing sensitive data with foreign nationals. Despite warnings from his university's Export Control Officer, in 2006, Roth took a laptop containing sensitive plans with him on a lecture tour in China and also allowed graduate students Xin Dai of China and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran to work on the project. 'The illegal export of restricted military data represents a serious threat to national security,' says David Kris of the US Department of Justice. 'We know that foreign governments are actively seeking this information for their own military development. Today's sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who knowingly discloses restricted military data in violation of our laws.' During his trial, Roth testified that he was unaware that hiring the graduate students was a violation of his contract. 'This whole thing has not helped me, it has not helped the university,' said Roth. 'And it has probably not helped this country, either.'"
Some of my professors (Score:5, Funny)
droned on and on too but I wouldn't send them to prison for it!
Lamest court defense ever (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Guilty. (Score:5, Funny)
He knew he wasn't supposed to do it, he was warned not to do it, he did it anyway. He pled guilty. If he didn't read his contract that's his problem. I also find it very unlikely. Why is this on slashdot?
Possibly to serve as a warning to others? That might be his whole purpose in life.
Re:Not long enough (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe, but his haircut is irrelevant. This was just irresponsible.
What the...?! (Score:5, Funny)
and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran to work
Did George Lucas get offspring in Iran or something?
Re:Why stop there.. (Score:5, Funny)
that's just for grunts. Once you get really senior, you can show classified documents to press photographers in public [guardian.co.uk]
Life or Death... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I remember the first time I signed... (Score:4, Funny)
Yay for Wikileaks.
Re:Why stop there.. (Score:1, Funny)
It seems you have divulged details of our countries classified briefing/debriefing procedures on an internationally viewable website. An unmarked van will be by to pick you up shortly.
See you soon,
The Government
Re:Guilty. (Score:4, Funny)
That's all well and good, but how relevant is it to the Cloud?
Re:Why stop there.. (Score:3, Funny)
Did that work or are you just trying to look big?
Re:Guilty. (Score:3, Funny)
... I'm surprised they didn't try to tie the iphone and google into it.
the laptop was a macbook pro...
Re:Why stop there.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I Wasn't Bothered By The Guy's Sentence... (Score:3, Funny)
Look, we'll tell you what the thump on the roof was AFTER you prove you're not a Chines or Iranian grad student, and not until then - Got it?.
What's ITAR? (Score:3, Funny)
I presume that ITAR means "International Traffic in Arms Regulations", as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations [wikipedia.org]
But to me as a non-american, it sounds more like Apple's archive format, iTar. You can then iGzip it and create secret_plans.itar.igz
Re:I remember the first time I signed... (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, because nothing shows you're a free thinker better than giving access to military technology to regimes that will use it to repress free thinking.