Is selling an Intel Engineering Sample (ES) unethical?

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2timer

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2012
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OMG guys, it was an i5-2400. OK?

Wow, you guys are just incredible. And no, I'm not going to report him, I have no idea how he got it, the NDA contract could've expired, the chip could have been decommissioned or gifted, I have no clue. It's not my duty or yours to question him about it. I'm simply going to return it and that's the end of story, period.

OK, now let's stop the speculation and prying, it's getting ridiculous.
 

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
10,571
3
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OMG guys, it was an i5-2400. OK?

Wow, you guys are just incredible. And no, I'm not going to report him, I have no idea how he got it, the NDA contract could've expired, the chip could have been decommissioned or gifted, I have no clue. I'm simply going to return it and that's the end of story, period.

OK, now let's stop the speculation and prying, it's getting ridiculous.

And once you get your refund, politely inform him that he can get fired for this in case he sold it because he lacks common sense.
 

Khato

Golden Member
Jul 15, 2001
1,251
321
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And once you get your refund, politely inform him that he can get fired for this in case he sold it because he lacks common sense.

It's always so inspiring to see how lacking in common sense some employees are isn't it?
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
21,060
3,550
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OMG guys, it was an i5-2400. OK?

Wow, you guys are just incredible. And no, I'm not going to report him, I have no idea how he got it, the NDA contract could've expired, the chip could have been decommissioned or gifted, I have no clue. It's not my duty or yours to question him about it. I'm simply going to return it and that's the end of story, period.

OK, now let's stop the speculation and prying, it's getting ridiculous.

LOL everyone wanted to see you fail and say it was a IVY-E, and it wasnt working in LGA2011...
(man the internet is mean...)
:biggrin:

But yeah, id go the civil route, try to get a refund b4 he pulls the @#$#@ route and extends your refund for a ridiculous period.
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
2,250
136
LOL everyone wanted to see you fail and say it was a IVY-E, and it wasnt working in LGA2011...
(man the internet is mean...)
:biggrin:

But yeah, id go the civil route, try to get a refund b4 he pulls the @#$#@ route and extends your refund for a ridiculous period.

He did say it was in a system he purchased and not a bare chip.

I do feel disappointed it was only a i5-2400 tho. Seems like with such a old chip he would have just stated the facts in the 1st post....Go figure!
 

TimberSaw

Junior Member
Aug 3, 2013
16
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Why would he not tell the guy? ^_^

Cause he'd be a mean asshole if he did.

And there's really no need to return it, I doubt he'd get in trouble for buying it anymore than the neighbor kid who pirates a copy of Call of Duty.
 
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ehume

Golden Member
Nov 6, 2009
1,511
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The "Intel employee" sells OP a system. The system has an ES CPU that was in essence stolen. So the "employee" set OP up for Receiving Stolen Property. Back when I worked in jails I talked to plenty of guys who were in there on RSP charges.

Based on aigomora's comments, I would be tempted to talk to a criminal defense lawyer before doing anything. It may be that simply returning the chip or the system to the seller would be insufficient to stay out of trouble.

I would recommend that OP not only save all the messages between him and the seller, but print them out as well.

Crims have an easier time of it: they simply proceed as if they will never be caught -- until they are. Most crims are not caught, but those that are, well, they knew it could happen. OP, OTOH, is an innocent purchaser. That makes a difference to us, but I don't know if that will make a difference to the cops, on the admittedly small chance that OP will be caught.

On the gripping hand, if the "employee" is in the business of peddling ES's, maybe he will get scooped up, and his purchasers too.

I don't know what he should do, but having the appropriate information is always good.
 

ruhtraeel

Senior member
Jul 16, 2013
228
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Something about picturing a guy shoving his hand into a burning pile of engineering sample processors just makes me laugh so hard
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
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The "Intel employee" sells OP a system. The system has an ES CPU that was in essence stolen. So the "employee" set OP up for Receiving Stolen Property. Back when I worked in jails I talked to plenty of guys who were in there on RSP charges.

Based on aigomora's comments, I would be tempted to talk to a criminal defense lawyer before doing anything. It may be that simply returning the chip or the system to the seller would be insufficient to stay out of trouble.

I would recommend that OP not only save all the messages between him and the seller, but print them out as well.

Crims have an easier time of it: they simply proceed as if they will never be caught -- until they are. Most crims are not caught, but those that are, well, they knew it could happen. OP, OTOH, is an innocent purchaser. That makes a difference to us, but I don't know if that will make a difference to the cops, on the admittedly small chance that OP will be caught.

On the gripping hand, if the "employee" is in the business of peddling ES's, maybe he will get scooped up, and his purchasers too.

I don't know what he should do, but having the appropriate information is always good.

Not_sure_if_serious.jpg


inmate1 - what you in for brah? i killed my neighbours with a machete
inmate2 - selling yayo to minors, damn pigs! Yo other guy whats your story?
OP - Oh i bought an engineering sample of an i5 2400 processor, heard of it?
inmate1 + inmate2 - LUBE UP BRAH!
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
5,066
418
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If you check out a book from your local library and then sell it on craigslist, would that be any different?

I really don't understand these sort of "it isn't unethical unless you can define how it is under the narrowest of exceptions and exclusions possible" positions.

Do people really walk around looking to steal anything their neighbors don't have under lock and key by using the excuse "well it must not have been important to them, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to steal it so easily, so its fair game, not unethical". The rural farmer in me is scared by the moral-less and ethics-less people who post in these threads D: Thank god our neighbors weren't like you lot, we'd never get any food grown (it would all be stolen before harvest time).

I don't have access to ES CPUs to really know, I assume people are given and Intel doesn't bother asking it back because controlling this would cost more money? and these CPUs end in the hands of sellers, collectors, enthusiasts...

I don't follow the rest of your post, looks irrelevant here... I assume these sellers are not breaking into some warehouse and stealing CPUs?

quick ebay search for ES CPU gives me 400+ results, does ebay allow stolen products to be sold?
 
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Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
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I don't have access to ES CPUs to really know, I assume people are given and Intel doesn't bother asking it back because controlling this would cost more money? and these CPUs end in the hands of sellers, collectors, enthusiasts...

I don't follow the rest of your post, looks irrelevant here... I assume these sellers are not breaking into some warehouse and stealing CPUs?

quick ebay search for ES CPU gives me 400+ results, does ebay allow stolen products to be sold?

yes
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
16,642
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I'm curious if anyone here knows what AMD's policy on ES stuff is.
Many years ago I purchased Several ES AMD Irongate Motherboards from a Goodwill in Austin that had been donated to them by AMD (along with a bunch of other AMD previously owned equipment). The boards them selves were rather neat, had a bunch of extra silk screening on them for test functions. A couple of them even ran an Athlon system I had for a while.
 

crashtech

Lifer
Jan 4, 2013
10,692
2,289
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It's disturbing to me that ebay allows this. I just add -ES to my searches and that gets rid of most of them, but still...
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Ebay doesn't allow stolen goods to be sold, at least on paper. But it does seem that they are closing an eye with so many listings of es cpus.

Supposedly they will pull them if they are reported, but it seems like quite are sold.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
59
91
It's because they don't like the answer they received. They want to justify it anyway they can. Just like downloading music/movies/games.

A: "Is doing such and such illegal?"

B: "Yes. There are laws against it."

A: "It's not stealing because yada yada yada, moral, ethical blah blah !!!"

Then why ask if they already have their mind made up on what they want to believe. lol

Pretty much.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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Since Glacier mentions that.....On an unrelated side-note, I always get a kick out of some of the justifications used for piracy. I understand why it happens, but it is still wrong.
/end off topic tangent
 
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