[ISN] In French Inquiry, a Glimpse at Corporate Spying

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/business/global/01iht-spy.html

By DAVID JOLLY
The New York Times
July 31, 2009

PARIS — The story has the elements of a corporate thriller: a cast of 
characters that includes former French spies and military men, an 
American cycling champion, Greenpeace activists and a dogged judge whose 
investigation takes him from a sports doping laboratory outside Paris to 
a Moroccan jail and to some of the top corporations in France.

Like installments in a serial novel, new revelations have been dripping 
out since March. And while the climax is still probably many months 
away, the story is providing a rare glimpse into the shadowy and 
potentially lucrative business of gathering what corporations refer to 
as “strategic intelligence.”

“For most companies, on a daily basis there are many more things going 
on than can possibly be handed off to the police,” said Christian 
Harbulot, director of the École de Guerre Économique, or School of 
Economic Warfare, in Paris.

The companies they turn to for “extra help,” Mr. Harbulot said, include 
everything from corporate security giants like Kroll to what he terms 
“small operators,” ranging from ex-intelligence agents to computer 
hackers. 

[...]


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