2 Years Prison for Microsoft Source Code Distributor

3 February 2006

2 Years Prison for Microsoft Source Code Distributor

A man was sentenced to two years in prison after admitting that he sold parts of the source code
for Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 operating systems shortly after the source code was leaked on
the internet.

The Defendant, William Genovese, from Connecticut USA apparently offered for sale copies of the
source code on his website in February 2004. The Defendant was found out when a member of staff
for Microsoft and an FBI agent were asked to pay $20 though PayPal to gain access to the code.

The 29 year old Genovese, was arrested in November 2004 and charged with unlawful distribution of
trade secrets. Genovese was not charged with the theft of the code, which is still being
investigated by the American authorities.

Genevose has 12 previous convictions, three of which relate to computer crime received 2 years
imprisonment for the offence. He will also face three years of supervised release after he leaves
prison.

Daniel Doherty