ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at different types and methods of corporate espionage, before turning to the specific wrongs involved in the practices. The form of corporate espionage that probably springs most readily to mind is that of the spy infiltrating a company to steal trade secrets. Imagine Pepsi trying to steal the recipe for Coke, for instance. Companies have been known to infiltrate such groups in order to gain insight into what they may be planning, to actively disrupt their activities, or even to act as agent's provocateurs to encourage the activists to go further than they otherwise would have and so break the law. While the activities of high policing are quite subtle and can be hard to pick apart, some government-sponsored corporate espionage is more blatant. State intelligence agencies have been known to actively pursue company secrets in foreign countries in order to return these to their home country and pass them on to domestic competitors.
