The Hunt — Part I — Data Theft and Interstate Rivalry
Stealing Science
The imposing databases of personal information revealed by Snowden & Wikileaks demonstrated an unholy alliance of intelligence agencies and technology companies. This abuse of technology has enabled a grand game of hunter and hunted. So what can be done if you are an expert data hunter, what could be your trophy kill.
The Telegraph reported that MI5 had warned universities, to protect their data against “Industrial and Commercial ” espionage by Chinese and Russian Spies. No mention of the US, Britain, Israel*, South Africa or any other politically or financially interested party, which has access to the detailed individual profiles of most of the world’s on-line citizens.
Choosing the Target
But does the MI5 lack imagination? With data as vulnerable as it is, the countries with state-of-the-art surveillance of email, telephone and cloud storage can carry out advanced, “industrial espionage” or a better name would be “research espionage”, by identifying the brightest innovators and thinkers, their ideas could be stolen as they develop them. The Universities would not be able to protect them.
Tracking the Target
Human behaviour means that many of us would type up our ideas, keep it locally on our computers and/or back it up on a cloud storage service like “drop box”. Maybe we would discuss the idea with others on the phone or via email. The information can be accessed at a every stage thanks to our governments’ collusion with technology companies. The same identification and tracking can be done for starts ups or any other money making discipline.
Hunting the Young
These “bright sparks”, could be put under aggressive surveillance, and every electronic drop of information could be studied as they save it. A spy could collate the research into embedded teams or to home grown scientists. Its even possible the receivers of advance research would never know they were party to a crime. Or they could be enticed into a job, before anybody else had identified them.
Making the Kill
If the thieves were smart, if they thought the technology served no purpose, they could still patent and take a cut of the end product through sale of patents or using patents to block further development. Maybe research needs to be done on the explosion of patents and designs, it’s correlation to the growth of the surveillance machine, and who owns and has gained access to it
But obviously, as is often said: “You have nothing to be afraid of, if you are doing nothing wrong”
* Snowden and William Binney revealed that the NSA had released its data unredacted to Israel, and that the equipment directly tapping the underwater fiber optic cables is Israeli.
