Patrick Naughton is an American

software developer Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

and convicted sex offender. He is one of the creators of the

Java programming language Java is a high-level, general-purpose, memory-safe, object-oriented programming language. It is intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywhere'' ( WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Jav ...

Career

Early career

In 1983, Naughton co-wrote a

MacPaint MacPaint is a raster graphics editor developed by Apple Computer and released alongside the original Macintosh personal computer on January 24, 1984. It was sold bundled with its word processing counterpart, MacWrite, for US$195. MacPaint was n ...

clone, ''Painter's Apprentice'', with

Russ Nelson Russell Nelson (born March 21, 1958) is an American computer programmer. He was a founding board member of the Open Source Initiative and briefly served as its president in 2005. Career In 1983, Nelson and Patrick Naughton wrote Painter's App ...

Sun Microsystems

As a

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

engineer, Patrick Naughton had become frustrated with the state of Sun's C++ and C

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

s (application programming interfaces) and tools. While considering moving to

NeXT NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

, Naughton was offered a chance to work on new technology and thus the ''Stealth Project'' was started. The Stealth Project was soon renamed to the ''Green Project'' with

James Gosling James Arthur Gosling (born 19 May 1955) is a Canadian computer scientist, best known as the founder and lead designer behind the Java (programming language), Java programming language. Gosling was elected a member of the National Academy of E ...

and Mike Sheridan joining Naughton. Together with other engineers, they began work in a small office on Sand Hill Road in

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park ( ) is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, California, Eas ...

. They were attempting to develop a new technology for programming next generation smart appliances, which Sun expected to be a major new opportunity. In June and July 1994, after three days of brainstorming with John Gage, the Director of Science for Sun,

Bill Joy William Nelson Joy (born November 8, 1954) is an American computer engineer and venture capitalist. He co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 along with Scott McNealy, Vinod Khosla, and Andy Bechtolsheim, and served as Chief Scientist and CTO ...

, Naughton, Wayne Rosing, and

Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and former computer engineer who was the chief executive officer of Google from 2001 to 2011 and the company's chairman, executive chairman from 2011 to 2015. He also was the ...

, the team re-targeted the platform for the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

. They felt that with the advent of the first graphical

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

Mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

, the Internet was on its way to evolving into the same highly interactive medium that they had envisioned for cable TV. As a prototype, Naughton wrote a small browser, WebRunner, later renamed HotJava.

After Sun

In 1994, Naughton quit Sun for Starwave (then a property of

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

) to develop server

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

applications for web sites. He was the author of "The Java Handbook", (, Osborne, 1995) and co-author of ''Java: The Complete Reference'', with Herbert Schildt (, Osborne, 1996) In 1998, Walt Disney Internet Group acquired Starwave and amalgamated it with

Infoseek Infoseek (also known as the "big yellow") was an American internet search engine founded in 1994 by Steve Kirsch. Infoseek was originally operated by the Infoseek Corporation, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Infoseek was bought by The W ...

in the Go Network company. As a result, Naughton became

executive vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

. After his arrest in 1999, Naughton was fired from Infoseek.

Sex crime arrest and conviction

On Sept. 14, 1999, Naughton flew from Seattle to Los Angeles on a private

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

jet. expecting a five-foot, blonde haired 13-year-old girl to wait on the

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

near the roller coaster, carrying a green backpack as instructed by Naughton. Naughton had written to her about love and sex and that he "wanted to get eralone in his hotel room and have /nowiki>her/nowiki> strip naked for him". Naughton had arranged this meeting, posing as "Hot Seattle", his online predator handle in an online chat room called "dad&daughtersex." The "girl" was actually an FBI agent. Two days later, he was arrested by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

and was charged with traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to have sex with a minor, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2423(b). After a trial ended in a

hung jury A hung jury, also called a deadlocked jury, is a judicial jury that cannot agree upon a verdict after extended deliberation and is unable to reach the required unanimity or supermajority. A hung jury may result in the case being tried again. Thi ...

, Naughton struck a plea agreement where he took a reduced sentence and admitted that he traveled from Seattle to Los Angeles last September with a "dominant purpose" to engage in sexual acts with "KrisLA", an online chat buddy he believed was a 13-year-old girl. He ended up serving no prison time, in exchange for working for the FBI for free for a year.

Novel defense

His line of defense was that he claimed he was persuaded to participate online in a ritualized sexual role-playing exercise, dealing with a mature woman acting as a girl. His then-novel defense, became known as the fantasy defense for pedophiles.

References

External links

Mr. Famous Comes Home
a ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine interview with Naughton {{DEFAULTSORT:Naughton, Patrick Living people Sun Microsystems people Java (programming language) American computer scientists Programming language designers People convicted of sex crimes Child sexual abuse in the United States Year of birth missing (living people)