The Web site of GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing
System) lists 18 "state of the art equipments (sic) used for
advanced spying". These include binoculars to read lips,
voice activated bugs, electronic imaging devices,
computer taps, electromagnetic induction detectors,
acoustic stethoscopes, fiber optic scopes, detectors of
acoustic emissions (e.g., of printers), laser mikes that can
decipher and amplify voice-activated vibrations of
windows, and other James Bond gear.
Such contraptions are an integral part of industrial
espionage. The American Society for Industrial Security
(ASIC) estimated a few years ago that the damage caused
by economic or commercial espionage to American
industry between 1993-5 alone was c. $63 billion.
The average net loss per incident reported was $19 million
in high technology, $29 million in services, and $36
million in manufacturing. ASIC than upped its estimate to
$300 billion in 1997 alone - compared to $100 billion
assessed by the 1995 report of the White House Office of
Science and Technology.
This figures are mere extrapolations based on anecdotal
tales of failed espionage. Many incidents go unreported.
In his address to the 1998 World Economic Forum, Frank
Ciluffo, Deputy Director of the CSIS Global Organized
Crime Project, made clear why:
"The perpetrators keep quiet for obvious reasons. The
victims do so out of fear. It may jeopardize shareholder
and consumer confidence. Employees may lose their jobs.
It may invite copycats by inadvertently revealing
vulnerabilities. And competitors may take advantage of
the negative publicity. In fact, they keep quiet for all the
same reasons corporations do not report computer
intrusions".
Interactive Television Technologies complained - in a
press release dated August 16, 1996 - that someone broke
into its Amherst, NY, offices and stole "three computers
containing the plans, schematics, diagrams and
specifications for the BUTLER, plus a number of
computer disks with access codes." BUTLER is a
proprietary technology which helps connect television to
computer networks, such as the Internet. It took four years
to develop.
In a single case, described in the Jan/Feb 1996 issue of
"Foreign Affairs", Ronald Hoffman, a software scientist,
sold secret applications developed for the Strategic
Defense Initiative to Japanese corporations, such as
Nissan Motor Company, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries, and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy
Industries. He was caught in 1992, having received
$750,000 from his "clients", who used the software in
their civilian aerospace projects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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