It's not my position, I just pointed out an argument that it may not be a net negative for the industry. In principle I'd rather see far fewer crimes for which

It's not my position, I just pointed out an argument that it may not be a net negative for the industry. In principle I'd rather see far fewer crimes for which imprisonment is our answer, but, OTOH I have been curious about the potential effects of imprisonment on white collar crime. >Lets say you catch Micron stealing Kingston DRAM technology. SEND THEM TO JAIL! Guess what? Nobody can just kick up DRAM production instantly. Fabs have to be build or converted. Right, but the fabs aren't necessarily destroyed by a lawsuit; nor will it be the case that every single engineer involved with DRAM is a part of the conspiracy. >Do you expect Micro workers in Manasas, Virginia to move to Taiwain to work for Winbond? I don't expect it to be necessary, but if it were, a quarter without DRAM production would drive demand to the point that engineers capable of running Winbond's fab would be happy to relocate, at least temporarily. >Monetary penalties, if properly calculated, absolutely would incentivize legit business activity. Even if the amount is enough to force bankruptcy, that is way better than just shutting down. I'm not convinced that the regulatory schemes we currently use are particularly effective. The whole point of my comment was to explore this admittedly extreme alternative. I'm also not convinced this idea is better, but if you just dismiss it without a serious thought then you may as well not bother discussing it all.