Schmidt contended, however, that he was fired for "protesting discriminatory hiring practices" at AIP, and that the "stolen time" quotation was an exaggerated allusion to counterculture icon Abbie Hoffman, who wrote Steal This Book. He added that "writing this radical book during break time in the office felt like stealing time because the ideas that I was expressing seemed so out of place with the corporate-type atmosphere of the office." Schmidt's firing led to a public campaign, with 750 physicists and academics, including Noam Chomsky, signing a letter supporting Schmidt.
Schmidt maintained, however, that he was terminated for speaking out against unfair hiring practices at AIP, and that his "stolen time" quote was an overstatement referencing Abbie Hoffman's book Steal This Book. He also noted that writing a provocative book during work hours felt like theft because the ideas he expressed were incongruous with the corporate office environment.