EEA of 1996

[mjsion () earthlink net (Max)]

EEA = Economic Espionage Act of 1996

I suppose the biggest difference between ethics and legality is that
ethics vary from one person to another and the interpretations of laws
should remain exactly same for all people. How facts are presented, when
cases are established and whether these facts are correct and/or
incorrect, this is a different story altogether.

I think that you may want to read trade secret and some other
intellectual property laws and regulations in the U.S., E.U. and France.
There are also some international treaties that may be quite relevant
for the study - these may be applicable to some computer security cases.
You may also want to visit some sites of the professional CI societies
and other similar organizations. There are many. Just use any search
engine (NOTE: However, you query may be used for some commercial
purposes - be aware of this).

If you like to read any EEA related cases, you may find some by
utilizing research engines to locate these cases and any analysis.
Sometimes these cases may be pure public relations and propaganda
activities targeting certain companies and enterprises. (In fact, there
have been some interesting cases, where locals have been very deceitful
toward their international managers and ownerships for the benefit of
local investments ---> actually a good use for the EEA.) In addition,
many law schools may have some good information at their sites. To find
any discussions relating to the EEA's regulatory process prior to is
becoming a part of a tangled subject-matter legislation, you may want to
search the Federal Register and/or any other relevant congressional
records. You may also visit the Whitehouse's archieves and other .gov
sites. However, I must say that some documents are providing a one-sided
view, but if you use the method -  "turn your YESes to NOs, and your NOs
to YESes", you may discover very interesting ideas.

However, I think that this issue can be viewed in many different ways.
National law enforcement agencies (E.U., U.S. France) tend to have their
own views and how they are allocating their resources to specific
activities. Sometimes their counter-intelligence activities may just be
offensive activities against certain commercial interests. Corporate
security personnel have their own approaches and not necessarily
dependent on any CI professionals and/or law enforcement agencies.
Competitive intelligence professionals have their views and are often
confused about their roles, their codes of ethics if any and their legal
liabilities if any. Then there are those intelligence agencies such as
the C.I.A., N.S.A. and other unnamed organizations who really do not
care about any ethics or any legislations - they just steal and steal.
And finally there are lawyers who have their views and interpretations.
I have found lawyers' interpretations and points of views most
beneficial and helpful.

There is a good seminar proceeding from the SCIP's (Society for
Competitive Intelligence Professionals) conference: "Trade Secret Law,
The EEA and CI", Chicago, 1998 - CI-803. This session addresses many
legal aspects of the EEA, trade secret laws in general and how they are
often misinterpreted. In general, most CI professionals many have
extreme misunderstandings and may not be qualified to interpret existing
legislation and law. The presentation also addresses many legal and
ethics issues. In practice, many EEA threats and public advices by some
SCIP members and other people are misleading and often deceiving. Do not
believe what controlled media stations are telling you.

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NOTE: "I disagree with what you  say, but I will defend to the death your
right 
to say it."

Markku J. Saarelainen
Email: mjsion () earthlink net

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