Industrial Espionage

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Spying, espionage, and secrets have likely been around ever since human beings evolved into their current forms. In any case, spying and espionage to obtain the secrets of one's enemies since human civilizations have been of a large size. One nation or empire may have obtained secrets of another's by hiring spies to obtain secrets. Or, they may have paid people who were members of the opposing nation's government.

While most people think of espionage and spying in such a sense, relating to governments and nations, spying and espionage can also occur in the context of businesses. When espionage occurs in such a context, it is called industrial espionage or corporate espionage. Industrial espionage is very similar to 'regular' espionage in that its purpose is to gain secrets of one's opposing in groups. While in regular espionage one's "opposing group" or enemy is another nation, with corporate espionage one's opposing groups is another business. One business may pay an employee of another business to provide it with secrets of the employee's business's production process or product ideas.

There have been a number of notable cases of industrial espionage.

In 1997, a man was indicted on charges of providing trade secrets of The Gillette Company to Gillette's competitors. The man was hired by a firm that was doing contracting business with Gillette, and when Gillette asked for the man to be removed from the contracting company and the company obliged, the man sent drawings a new Gillette razor to some of Gillette's competitors.
Also in 1997, a man who had recently retired from Kodak started his own consulting company. Upon leaving Kodak, however, the man took with him confidential Kodak documents and secrets, which he later sold for around $25,000. As a result of his crimes, the man was sentenced to one year in prison, a $30,000 fine, and three month of house confinement with a tracking bracelet. Moreover, Kodak has filed a civil suit against the man for damages as a result of his providing Kodak's trade secrets.

Corporate espionage is a serious crime in the United States. In fact, under the Economic Espionage Act passed in 1996, stealing a company's trade secrets or providing a company's trade secrets to another entity is a federal crime.

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