[1] Even an innocent phone conversation could lead to information leaks.

A man in an unmarked van clenches a scrambled telephone and listens intently. He waits for the man on the other end to answer. He waits to hear how the man on the other end answers.

[Phone rings.]
"Hello?"
"Hello is this Daniel Grams? I'm Edward Hawthorne, I work security here at the factory, and I was wondering if I could buy your time for a moment? We have had some personnel problems recently. I guess some people haven't been signing out properly, so we are going down the personnel list to confirm identities, and make sure you have been were where you were supposed to be. Do you have a moment? This won't take long."
"I guess I can manage."
"Can you please spell your complete name?"
"D-A-N-I-E-L then, G-R-A-M-S."
"What floor do you work on?"
"The third floor in the west terminal."
"Well, can you tell me the last 2 digits of your code card?"
"06."
"Can you tell me the name of your specific project?"
"Big Papa."
"Can you go into more detail?"
"What?"
"Can you go into more detail?"
"Who is this!"
[Click]

The man on the phone does not work for security. In fact, he is the reason for security. He is known as a corporate spy, and he, like many others, is itching to learn more about "Big Papa."

Welcome to the world of industrial espionage, a world just as thrilling as any James Bond movie. There is lying, disguises, gadgets galore. And everyone's after the secret information. "Big Papa" is not a nuclear device; it is a new deodorant. This is big business, with big bucks on the line, and corporations that will stop at nothing to steal, or at least peek, at their competitor's hand.

Proctor and Gamble is a multinational corporation that spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on buying and selling innovations. They are responsible for manufacturing and distributing products such as Crest toothpaste and Herbal Essences shampoo. They deal with industrial espionage on a regular basis. Ed Casey, Proctor and Gamble's head of security, says, "Industrial espionage is a huge problem. Trying to safeguard information from not only competitors, but from foreign governments is extremely difficult."

[2] Even innocent office conversations can result in information leaks.

When trying to beat a competitor to the marketplace with a new innovation, keeping information secret is crucial. Also, when a corporation looks to buy another company, it is also imperative to keep the price range secret. If the selling company or foreign government knows the maximum price a corporation is willing to pay, then bargaining is forgone because they will sell for nothing less.

Industrial 007s stop at nothing to get their information. Casey says, "In order to obtain information, competitors and general information gatherers will dress up like employees and try to get into meetings, fly over factories in unmarked planes, call employees under false pretenses, and other extremes."

Some use gimmicks, like saying they were referred by another employee to get information for a school report. Spies are also likely to stake out factory sites. They use planes to take pictures from overhead in order to determine when a new factory will be operational. Industrial 007s also like to know the configurations of new buildings and factories to determine what kind of production possibilities they have.

With regards to corporate security and the measures taken to protect internal information, Casey says, "All employees must sign a CDA (contract of non-disclosure), and take classes on prevention of disclosing internal information. New products are talked about in codes, and information is disclosed on a need-to-know basis."

Even with these preventative measures, leaks still occur. With so many people involved in a project, there's no way to completely control greed and temptation. "We work with thousands of people. Some are exclusively ours, but others are extended business partners, and some are even outside contractors who work directly with our competition."

A situation in which a competitor comes out with a similar innovation around the same time could indicate that a leak occurred. Corporations have internal systems that try to pinpoint the source of such leaks. If discovered, the issue is brought to the corporate legal team to see what kind of recourse is possible.

On September 25, 1989, Proctor and Gamble used their legal might in a case dubbed "The Cookie War and How it Crumbled." by U.S. News and World Report. Nabisco, Keebler and Frito-Lay settled out of court with Proctor and Gamble. They paid an estimated $125 million for infringement of Proctor and Gamble's soft cookie patent. At the time, it was the biggest disclosed patent settlement in history.

Industrial espionage occurs everywhere. No idea is safe, not even when it has been patented. Just ask Lizzie J. Maggie, the true inventor of Monopoly. According to Time Magazine, Charles Darrow, who is credited for being the inventor of Monopoly, acquired the idea when he was shown the game by a distant friend of Lizzie J. Maggie. Then Parker Brothers bought it for $1 million from Mr. Darrow, and soon thereafter purchased the rights to all previous versions.

With ideas, there is nothing to steal but the intangible, the product of the inventor's imagination. Furthermore, ideas are not up for grabs, nor are they commodities without owners, says Casey. "Some may say that stealing is [inventors'] little dirty secret but I say stealing is stealing."