Corporate espionage is probably not what you think of when you hear the word spy. It’s not Sean Connery with his debonair manner, nor is it Tom Cruise hanging from suspension cable; sometimes it’s as simple as a man in a bathrobe sitting in front of a computer with a touchtone phone beside it. Google found out that espionage can “allegedly” be a sovereign state seeking to quash dissidents. We’ll look at both the fact and fiction surrounding the world of the corporate spy. (From godfathers to perps, familiarize yourself with the “criminal elements” creeping around Wall Street, in Handcuffs And Smoking Guns: The Criminal Elements Of Wall Street.)
Caught Napping
Why aren’t we rounding up corporate spies and applying the thumbscrews? Putting aside the music and film pirates who are prosecuted by the MPAA sporadically, there is nothing blatantly illegal about this profession. The freedom of information act can, with some imagination, be stretched to protect the collection of any kind of information as long as:
1. You have not signed a non-disclosure agreement and
2. You do not use fraud or break any laws while gathering information
When corporate spies are caught, they are charged for breaking rule two. (Ponzi schemes are just one example of this type of scam; learn how to avoid becoming a victim in Affinity Fraud: No Safety In Numbers.)
