economic espionage (@#$%^&*)

[Black Unicorn]

On Thu, 21 Sep 1995, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:

> 
> >> >It was said that Pres. Clinton had given a speech while 
> >> >visiting the  CIA HQ in Langley/Virginia. He allegedly 
> >> >said in this speech that obtaining  industrial 
> >> >informations has the highest priority and this were the 
> >> >new  task for the spies.
> 
> ah yes, just like the way Clinton alone came up with the whole
> Clipper idea as a way to balance the legitimate goals
> of law enforcement with the right to privacy in society.

Uh, how do you see balancing in the economic intelligence issue?
Do you believe espionage is never justified?
"Gentlemen don't read each other's mail" almost lost a war.

> 
> careful Bill, your strings are showing. and I won't say 
> who is the puppeteer, but he has the initials N.S.A.
>

You need to write a conspiracy book.

> pardon me, but this new "economic espionage" sleazoid-intelligence-
> agency-justifying bugaboo really annoys me.

You prefered it when they were funding gunrunning and hostage negotiation 
with drug profits and abbetting smuggling?

> I would *die* to see an op-ed in the NYT with the subject:
> "economic espionage: the new bogeyman decoy after the cold war"

Uh, you've not been looking.  Many have criticised the new emphasis as 
justification in a threatless environment.

***

A very interesting note has been published on the subject just recently.
Interested parties might want to check out:

Augustini, Jeff, "From Goldfinger to Butterfinger: The Legal and Policy 
Issues Surrounding Proposals to Use the CIA for Economic Espionage,"
26 Law & Pol'y Int'l Bus. 2 (Law and Policy in International Business, The
International Law Journal of Georgetown University Law Center).


While the author misses some key points, goes off on a silly 
anti-trust tangent which totally misreads the current state of antitrust 
law, and makes some outright misses on the legal logistics of passing 
the information through government channels, the work also holds some 
interesting research about the programs of Japan, France, Germany and Isreal.

Some Choice Parts:

'Intelligence officials in the United States estimate that at least twenty 
foreign nations are currently engaged in intelligence activities 
"detrimental to our economic interests...."'


'The White House Office on Science and Technology estimates losses to U.S. 
businesses from foreign economic espionage at nearly one hundred billion 
dollars per year.'


'Allegations within the French Government accuse U.S. personal, including 
four diplomats, attempted to steal secret government documents relating 
to Franco-American trade disputes.'


'A classified CIA report lists two top Japanese intelligence priorities as 
(1); intelligence regarding access to foreign sources of raw material and 
(2) "detailed intelligence on technological and scientific developments 
in the United States and Western Europe."'


'In addition to intelligence operations abroad, the French are notorious 
for routinely eavesdropping on, and conducting "bag jobs" against, U.S. 
businessmen visiting France.  To conduct these "bag job" operations,
the French allegedly maintain an extensive network of part-time or 
volunteer informants known as "honorary correspondents," whose main tasks 
are to help the DGSE (French Intelligence) gain entry into hotel rooms, 
delay or distract targets, and provide an early warning system in cases 
where targets return early... placing electronic eavesdropping equipment 
on Air France flights between Paris and New York to listen in on 
traveling U.S. businessmen, attempting to plant moles in European 
branches of U.S. corporations, and wiretapping state-owned communications 
lines used by U.S. companies located in France.'


Most interesting for cypherpunks:

An ominous footnote #111 indicates that:  'While many American companies 
employ encryption equipment, under French law they must give the "keys" 
to the French government.  This allows the French Intelligence services to 
listen to encoded transmissions.'


If anyone wants a fuller summary, I'll post it to the list with enough 
interest.


Moral:  Even a clueless Law Student comments on intelligence better than 
"Vlad."

---
"In fact, had Bancroft not existed,       potestas scientiae in usu est
Franklin might have had to invent him."    in nihilum nil posse reverti
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