Story Archive

This is No Game

State investigators in Florida jumped on the case: someone stole four hard drives from computers at the Florida Department of Revenue in Tallahassee containing “secret information” about taxpayers. A sophisticated identity theft ring, maybe? Maybe not: the trail led to Andru Reed, 21, an employee at a janitorial service the state contracts with. “Reed indicated that he had connected the hard drives to his Xbox to download video games without knowing what was on the hard drives,” the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said. “We are confident that the information on the drives was not accessed.” Reed has been charged with “offenses against intellectual property” and “offenses against users of computer systems,” both felonies. (RC/Tampa Bay Times) ...Does the “intellectual property” refer to bootlegged Microsoft games, or the “secret information” about taxpayers? Asking for a friend.