A Connecticut man was yesterday arrested and charged with selling the source code used by Microsoft's Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 operating systems. William P. Genovese, Jr., 27, faces charges of "unlawfully distributing a trade secret", an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Investigators hired by Microsoft and an undercover FBI agent were both able to download Microsoft's secret software blueprint from a site run by Genovese after making a payment of $20 via PayPal to the accused, prosecutors allege. Genovese is not under suspicion for originally stealing the source code, only for handling "stolen goods", the New York Times reports. ®

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