Reading around EU regulators trying to regulate Microsoft for anticompetitive behaviour (and how that may recently have bitten us on the arse) — I encountered the story of Neil Barrett, whose history runs thusly, and perhaps is a salutary lesson for people who desire to be paid for assisting regulators.
https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/7413339.neil-logs-on-to-key-role-in-investigation
Oct 2005: A FORMER computer hacker turned … Professor of Computer Criminology and expert in fraud at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham … [was] asked by the European Union to investigate software company Microsoft and the way it operates on the continent. As trustee to the European Commission, Mr Barrett will help assess compliance with the commission’s 2004 ruling that Microsoft abused its near-monopoly in desktop computer operating systems to squeeze out rival makers of media players and to prevent competitors from designing software that worked with its servers.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/keeping-watch-over-microsoft
Oct 2005: The task should draw on Barrett’s wide range of work experience. Back in 1985, he became the United Kingdom’s youngest lecturer when he took a post at York University at age 23. He left that to become a trainer at software developer Kernel Technology in Leeds, then went on to serve as a high-tech consultant for companies in the U.K., the United States and France. He is also the author of several papers and books relating to cybercrime.
https://www.theregister.com/2007/09/17/microsoft_european_commission_verdict
Sep 2007: Microsoft has lost its appeal against European Commission charges of anti-competitive behaviour … Following the original decision Microsoft had to agree to the imposition of a trustee to oversee the company and check it was complying with court demands. A short list was drawn up and Professor Neil Barrett appointed. But the Court of First Instance ruled that this was an obligation too far. Therefore the court annuled the imposition of a trustee.
https://www.politico.eu/article/microsoft-and-the-trustees-fee
Dec 2007: Overall the European Commission scored a resounding victory over US software giant Microsoft in September when the European Court of First Instance upheld its decision to fine the company for exploiting its Windows PC operating system to crowd out rivals’ products. The only area where the court did not fully support the Commission’s sanctions was over the setting up of a monitoring trustee, an eminent computer science professor, …. The court found that the Commission had exceeded its powers in making Microsoft pick up the bill for the trustee, Neil Barrett, and his team. Now when the bills come in, the Commission will have to pay, rather than forwarding them to Microsoft. Sadly for the taxpayer, expert computer scientists like Barrett and his team are hard to come by and do not come cheap. But a Commission official said: “It’s a price worth paying.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7925718.stm
Mar 2009: In 2005, Prof Neil Barrett was appointed as a full-time monitoring trustee to assess the information Microsoft had provided … In a statement, the Commission said it “no longer requires a full time monitoring trustee to assess Microsoft’s compliance”. While it said monitoring was still “necessary” it said the information it needed could be found through other, more passive, means.
Feb 2013: A computer expert who advised the European Commission during its investigation into breaches of EU competition rules by Microsoft is facing a law suit for nearly £2.5m. Neil Barrett’s work was instrumental in the European Commission (EC) securing fines of €1.65bn against Microsoft for abusing its dominant position in the PC market. Now the European Commission is demanding £2.46m in compensation from Barrett, who was appointed as an independent monitor for the EC in the Microsoft case in 2005. … As part of the settlement, Microsoft was ordered to pay the costs of setting up and running an independent “monitoring trustee” to monitor Microsoft’s compliance with the settlement. Barrett was appointed as sole director of Monitoring Trustee Limited (MTL) in November 2005. Under the agreement, Barrett’s salary of £250,000 a year and MTL’s start-up costs and running expenses were paid by Microsoft. The disputed funds include £25,000 in fees paid to Barrett for attending Microsoft’s appeal hearing in 2008, £250,000 in management fees, and £111,000 in fees to Barrett for headhunting 10 specialist advisors for MTL. Moore Stephens claims that the difference between the money Microsoft paid MTL and Barrett for monitoring work, and the costs spent under the terms of the Trustee Mandate was £2.41m – a sum that the EC says Barrett should repay. … Barrett, who retired in 2010 following illness caused by multiple sclerosis, is best known for his pioneering work in computer forensics. Among other high-profile cases, the former University of York lecturer was responsible for uncovering the evidence that led to the conviction of Gary Glitter for paedophile offences in 1999. The European Commission and Barrett declined to comment on the case.
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