Hamidi's Battle Against Intel

Date: Thursday, July 03, 2003 10:33 AM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

I first learned about H-1B on Ken Hamidi's FaceIntel website while I
was researching age discrimination. FaceIntel details how Intel uses
the "Ranking and Rating" system to harass and discriminate against
their older employees. The website features documentation and
commentaries about Intel's corporate abuse and exploitation, - and how
they use of H-1B to displace older workers.

Hamidi's has been in a legal battle with Intel because he sent emails
to employees about their abusive employer. Intel's response was to file
a lawsuit to break Hamidi's will and ability to inform the public. The
plan is backfiring because Intel executives underestimated Hamidi's
determination to fight back. This is a modern day David and Goliath
story and so far Goliath is getting his teeth knocked out.

Go to this page to see Ken Hamidi marching on Intel's headquarters on a
horse. It's an all time classic!
http://www.intelhamidi.com/firstdelivery.htm

Whenever someone I know says they are looking for work at Intel I tell
them to go to this website before they make the move:
http://www.faceintel.com

After the two news articles, I have a few snippets from the FaceIntel
website.

Just one more thing: I started the H-1B Hall of Shame because I admired
Ken Hamidi's "in your face(Intel)" style. His byzantine balance of
facts, humor, and sarcastic cynicism inspired me to do the same.

Ken Hamidi: Congratulations and keep fighting for the rights of
American workers!

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/02/MN181676.DTL

Intel e-mail case heads to state high court

Ruling could redefine parameters of free speech rights in cyberspace
Harriet Chiang, Chronicle Legal Affairs Writer
Wednesday, April 2, 2003
)2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback

When Ken Hamidi was fired from Intel over a work injury dispute, he
wanted to share his beef with others. So he sat down at his computer
and did what has become routine in the Internet age -- he sent an
e-mail.

In fact, the engineer sent six e-mail messages to thousands of Intel
employees from 1996 to 1998, criticizing the computer giant's
employment practices. Intel asked Hamidi to stop and tried to block his
e-mails, but to no avail.

Finally, the company, based in Santa Clara, went to court, claiming
that Hamidi, a nine-year employee with the company, was disrupting its
business. In a decision that stunned civil rights and free speech
experts, a state appeals court agreed with Intel and barred Hamidi from
sending any more e-mail, ruling that he had trespassed on Intel's
property.

The dispute is now before the California Supreme Court, which this week
will hear arguments in what could be a landmark case defining the
parameters of free speech rights in cyberspace.

'THAT'S CENSORSHIP'
Hamidi, 55, says that Intel's Internet-based e-mail system is a public
forum that was never disrupted by his e-mail notes. His defenders say
that the corporate giant is trying to silence Hamidi because they don't
like his message.

"That's censorship," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American
Civil Liberties Union in Northern California, which has filed a brief
in support of Hamidi. "This is about an employer or some other third
party deciding what kind of e-mail I can send that you receive."

Intel responds that it has a right to control its business operations
-- including its e-mail. Hamidi's electronic assault distracted
employees and disrupted its business, the company said.

"The e-mail is Intel's private property," said Intel spokesman Chuck
Mulloy.

"It's a resource."

Intel has characterized Hamidi's e-mail messages as a "barrage" forced
on tens of thousands of employees. Hamidi's attorneys say it was only
six messages over a two-year period -- barely a blip in the constant
flow of electronic mail.

BROAD RAMIFICATIONS
Because of the potentially broad ramifications, the case has drawn
national attention. E-mail is quickly becoming the preferred method of
communication for a growing segment of the population. It's faster than
sending a letter and often more efficient than picking up the phone.

While courts and state legislatures have imposed restrictions on spam
and computer hacking, the vast frontier of opinions and ideas sent via
e-mail is still relatively unexplored.

Hamidi, who initially was representing himself but is now being
represented by lawyers in Philadelphia and San Francisco, has drawn
support from the ACLU, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection
of Free Expression and 41 law professors from around the country.

Backing Intel are an array of business heavyweights, including the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the California Chamber of Commerce and the
Semiconductor Industry Association.

FEELING OF BETRAYAL
Hamidi's troubles with Intel began after he was injured in a 1990 car
accident while returning from a conference.

The engineer, who worked at Intel's Folsom (Sacramento County) offices,
became entangled in a long-running worker's compensation dispute with
the company until he was ultimately fired in 1995.

Hamidi said he felt betrayed by a company with which he had envisioned
spending the rest of his career.

"I decided to fight back," he said. "I was not going to let this happen
to other people."

He formed a group of former and current disgruntled Intel workers, set
up a Web site and even rode up to the front door of Intel's corporate
headquarters in a horse and buggy to deliver 40,000 printed messages.

He also sent e-mails.

After acquiring Intel's e-mail address list, he sent e-mails to as many
as 35,000 employees, sending them in the middle of the night and using
different computers in order to bypass Intel's attempts to block his
messages. He agreed to drop anyone from his mailing list at their
request.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge granted Intel's request for a
preliminary injunction forbidding Hamidi from sending e-mail to Intel
workers. In December 2001, a state appeals court shook the legal
community by ruling 2-1 that Intel could ban Hamidi from sending
e-mail.

"Intel owns the e-mail system it provides to its workers as much as it
owns the telephones and manufacturing equipment it provides," wrote
Justice Fred Morrison. In its reasoning, the court dusted off an
obscure law that forbids "trespass to chattel," which applies to
someone's private property.

In a strongly worded dissenting opinion, Justice Daniel Kolkey warned
that the court was expanding a law that had been limited to cases in
which someone damages another's property. Other appellate courts have
applied the trespass law in computer cases only where the volume of
e-mail disrupted or damaged operations, he said.

DEFENDING E-MAIL RIGHTS
Hamidi's attorneys say that Intel does not have to resort to censorship
to stifle a former employee. Employees can simply delete his message,
or the company can rely on spam filters.

"Intel certainly is perfectly capable of getting their own message
across," said San Francisco lawyer Karl Olson, who is teaming with
Philadelphia attorney William McSwain in representing Hamidi.

Law professors who specialize in computer and intellectual property law
point out that Intel would not have been able to muzzle Hamidi if he
had relied on the telephone or U.S. Postal Service to spread his
message.

Professor Mark Lemley, who teaches computer law at UC Berkeley's Boalt
Hall, filed a brief on behalf of 41 law professors specializing in
computer law and intellectual property. He said the Hamidi decision was
one of a series of rulings -- largely in the federal courts -- that
have allowed those who run Web sites or e-mail systems to control who
has access to them, even if there is no harm to the system.

But those cases largely have been in the business context involving
potential competitors, not with someone merely expressing an opinion.

"If you hold this illegal, lots of possible things could be illegal,"
Lemley said.

But attorneys for employer groups warn that if Hamidi prevails, anyone
with a gripe will be able to bombard a company with e-mails. He is free
to express his opinions, they say, whether on his Web site or on the
street. Just as long as it's not on their property.

"This is a case where the owner is saying I don't want him to use this
speech on my server," said Richard Epstein, an intellectual property
professor at the University of Chicago who filed a brief on behalf of a
coalition of employers' groups. "It's the same as saying 'I don't want
him using this speech in my living room.' "

Mark Theodore, an attorney who filed a brief on behalf of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce and other groups, said that many computer servers
already had set up rules for their systems, noting that eBay prohibits
anyone from selling Nazi memorabilia on its Web site.

"It isn't this big frontier that everybody is talking about," he said.
"There's got to be some limits."

E-mail the writer at hchiang@sfchronicle.com.

------------- FaceIntel Snippets -----------------------

http://www.faceintel.com/scam.htm
At the same time, Intel shamelessly claimed that they had a shortage of
skilled labor. Therefore, Intel wanted the immigration laws (H1B visa)
to be modified to allow them to hire more foreign labor (cheap labor).
Intel also claims in the national media that without unrestricted
access to cheap foreign labor, Intel will lose the competition to
Japan, and the American economy will be adversely affected.

http://www.faceintel.com/sweatshop2.htm
"while cynically paying temp rates at one-half the going industry
standard rate! Can you imagine US workers earning less than
counterparts in Bangalore? By the methods FACE Intel has so described,
Intel and like-minded corporations wage war against American workers
and the day of the US Bangalore worker is here!"

While thousands of American workers are laid off by these disgraceful
tactics, thousands more foreign workers are brought into the United
States under the H1B and L1 visa program and hundreds of thousands more
American jobs are shipped out to unstable 3rd world countries like
China and India.

http://www.faceintel.com/layoffs.htm
Mixed Messages from Intel on April 15, 1998:
"This is how; while Intel is announcing layoffs, FACE Intel has learned
that Intel also has also claimed a serious shortage of skilled workers
and is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to increase the 65,000
limit imposed on H1B visas. At the same time, Intel is aggressively
hiring at universities. As Mr. High stated, they are hiring while
firing. That is a clear case of replacing the older employees with
young RCGs (Recent College Graduates), or replacement of experienced
with inexperienced, or replacement of expensive employees with cheaper
ones. It is safe to conclude that this is major cleanup operation."

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