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I don't know why you are being downvoted. That is a very legitimate question. I would think that since trade secret theft is really simply a violation of a pr

I don't know why you are being downvoted. That is a very legitimate question. I would think that since trade secret theft is really simply a violation of a private contract, that it should therefore simply be a civil offense. However, it seems that the people who made the U.S. Economic Espionage Act of 1996 [1] (which is what made theft of a trade secret a federal crime) and of The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 [2] (which strengthened that) believe otherwise. From the title of those acts, I'd guess they argued it should be a federal crime because of the risk of foreign entities gaining US company knowledge and/or harm to US economy in general. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Espionage_Act_of_1996 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_Espionage_Act_of_1996 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defend_Trade_Secrets_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defend_Trade_Secrets_Act

citrablue 8y ago
The timing is interesting, assuming it took a few years in draft before being voted to pass. According to a "Jose Canseco" like book called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the USSR would frequently attend international trade shows and directly purchase/bribe/steal technology from westerners. But only after the fall of the union did it become a criminal act for an American commit.[0] Then again, this was also the first period when technology really became ubiquitous. Perhaps it just reflects the spread of tech. [0] of course treason / violation of oath was a crime, I'm just curious if anyone more versed in history than I can provide more insight.
- mattmanser 8y ago
  The late 80s were all hysteria about Japanese firms taking over America. You can see it in a lot of books and films from the era. There's a really quite odd film called Rising Sun with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes that has corporate espionage as part of the plot. 1993 release, which was actually just after Japan's economy slowed down.
  - Spoom 8y ago
    The original Rising Sun book by Michael Crichton is a good read if you didn't know about it. Haven't seen the movie.
    - hfdgiutdryg 8y ago
      It's a good read, but also full of wild mischaracterizations of Japanese culture.
  - toyg 8y ago
    The original book was published in 1992, and the writing rate for the author at that point was about two years for each novel, so the idea probably originated around 1990.
- ChrisArchitect 8y ago
  upvote for the Jose Canseco reference haha
briandear 8y ago
The downvotes are because theft of trade secrets is a crime. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1832 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1832 It’s not any more a contract case as stealing a rental car would be. It’s not a contract dispute, it’s a violation of a federal criminal statute.
- nerdwaller 8y ago
  Not to mention a public company ($FIT) being involved - potentially exposing a broader audience of investors to indirect exposure of the act, potentially causing ripple effects in a public market.
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  > The downvotes are because theft of trade secrets is a crime. That is not a legitimate reason to down vote a question.
  - giancarlostoro 8y ago
    Sometimes I wish downvotes required a mandatory reply.
    - IMTDb 8y ago
      Downvoted because I don't agree (I did not really downvote but you get my point)
      - giancarlostoro 8y ago
        Ah yes and then downvoting them might be hell. If only there was a good way to determine when to force someone to reply when downvoting.
    - pc86 8y ago
      They do require a certain karma threshold which is supposed to prevent people without sufficient context in the HN community from downvoting a bunch of stuff. I also think if you downvote beyond a certain threshold in a certain period of time it stops counting them (to prevent flame threads from devolving into everyone destroying everyone else's Internet Points perhaps). Perhaps the karma threshold needs to be increased.

citrablue 8y ago

The timing is interesting, assuming it took a few years in draft before being voted to pass. According to a "Jose Canseco" like book called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, the USSR would frequently attend international trade shows and directly purchase/bribe/steal technology from westerners. But only after the fall of the union did it become a criminal act for an American commit.[0] Then again, this was also the first period when technology really became ubiquitous. Perhaps it just reflects the spread of tech. [0] of course treason / violation of oath was a crime, I'm just curious if anyone more versed in history than I can provide more insight.

mattmanser 8y ago
The late 80s were all hysteria about Japanese firms taking over America. You can see it in a lot of books and films from the era. There's a really quite odd film called Rising Sun with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes that has corporate espionage as part of the plot. 1993 release, which was actually just after Japan's economy slowed down.
- Spoom 8y ago
  The original Rising Sun book by Michael Crichton is a good read if you didn't know about it. Haven't seen the movie.
  - hfdgiutdryg 8y ago
    It's a good read, but also full of wild mischaracterizations of Japanese culture.
- toyg 8y ago
  The original book was published in 1992, and the writing rate for the author at that point was about two years for each novel, so the idea probably originated around 1990.
ChrisArchitect 8y ago
upvote for the Jose Canseco reference haha

briandear 8y ago

The downvotes are because theft of trade secrets is a crime. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1832 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1832 It’s not any more a contract case as stealing a rental car would be. It’s not a contract dispute, it’s a violation of a federal criminal statute.

nerdwaller 8y ago
Not to mention a public company ($FIT) being involved - potentially exposing a broader audience of investors to indirect exposure of the act, potentially causing ripple effects in a public market.
vonmoltke 8y ago
> The downvotes are because theft of trade secrets is a crime. That is not a legitimate reason to down vote a question.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  Sometimes I wish downvotes required a mandatory reply.
  - IMTDb 8y ago
    Downvoted because I don't agree (I did not really downvote but you get my point)
    - giancarlostoro 8y ago
      Ah yes and then downvoting them might be hell. If only there was a good way to determine when to force someone to reply when downvoting.
  - pc86 8y ago
    They do require a certain karma threshold which is supposed to prevent people without sufficient context in the HN community from downvoting a bunch of stuff. I also think if you downvote beyond a certain threshold in a certain period of time it stops counting them (to prevent flame threads from devolving into everyone destroying everyone else's Internet Points perhaps). Perhaps the karma threshold needs to be increased.