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And I'm certain that if Boeing were offered similar information from a defector within a Chinese firm, they'd turn it down and report the spy to the proper auth
by msla 9y ago
And I'm certain that if Boeing were offered similar information from a defector within a Chinese firm, they'd turn it down and report the spy to the proper authorities.
Industrial espionage is as old as industry. It got porcelain and tea out of China and is, in fact, the reason the UK was able to grow tea as early as it was.
It isn't nice, but business isn't nice.
- StreamBright 9y agohttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/30/airbus_us_german_intelligence/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/30/airbus_us_german_int...
- Blackthorn 9y agoWell, we know that AMD at one point did in fact turn someone in to the authorities for attempting to sell them industrial espionage from Intel. I don't think it's as gloomy a picture as you are trying to paint.
- msla 9y agoGloomy depends on the context. The US got its textile industry due to Samuel Slater stealing the design of the shuttle loom from the UK: http://www.brahmsmount.com/blog/american-textile-history/ http://www.brahmsmount.com/blog/american-textile-history/ I'm not defending industrial espionage, I'm merely pointing out that treating it as a grave and horrible thing is at odds with how important it's been historically.
- RamshackleJ 9y agoSo the benchmark for modern business ethics is a man who made his fortune off the back of slaves in the 1700s?
- SamReidHughes 9y agoPepsi did this when somebody tried to sell them Coke's formula.
- muro 9y agoAlso HP did.
- evgen 9y agoAs others have noted, there are already extant examples of US companies turning in such people who attempt to sell them obviously stolen info. There are some interesting jurisdictional issues here regarding outright legality of such info and if there is a duty to act by a US corporate officer who is offered such info that is known or suspected to be stolen. If the info theft takes place in the US then all sorts of laws apply (as, for example, Uber is likely to experience in the near future) but if the theft took place outside the US I wonder if the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes such a purchase illegal and failure to report a potential crime? I think the Economic Espionage Act only covers theft that goes from US to some other country, but I am curious if the FCPA covers things coming in the opposite direction?
- nradov 9y agoAre you being sarcastic? Boeing is a huge defense contractor. They know the rules, spend a fortune on compliance, and wouldn't risk getting tangled up in something illegal for a minor temporary advantage. It's not like they could learn much of value from any Chinese aerospace company anyway. What they would do is confidentially report the offer to the FBI and/or Defense Department and then cooperate with however the federal government told them to handle it. The feds would probably try to flip the defector and turn him into a useful intelligence asset.
- korzun 9y agoI'm certain that Boeing has a team of people who are certain that your certainty is irrelevant.