The Economic Espionage Act (1996) states that “Any person who, intending or knowing that the offense will benefit a foreign government, foreign instrumentality or foreign agent, knowingly and without authorization copy, duplicate, sketch, draw, photograph, upload, download, modify, destroy, photocopy, reproduce, transmit, deliver, send, post, communicate or transmit a trade secret shall be, except as provided in paragraph (b), punishable by a fine of not more than $500,000 or imprisonment of not more than $500,000. over 15 years, or both. » . The clause is rich in terms of protection against technological malice which could lead to espionage including photocopying, downloading or even sending commercial secrets. However, it does not benefit from complete protection against this phenomenon since individuals who, for personal purposes and without the intention of benefiting competitors, can access and sell or disclose trade secrets. Article 3 of the clause aims to prevent such an occurrence, but it should be noted that most employees have access to the company database, which is legal. Downloading certain information out of curiosity and using it to create better trade secrets that are sold to other organizations amounts to economic espionage. This is innocent according to the law as it contains no provisions to protect such incidents and needs to be revised. The law should stipulate that any intentional or unintentional use of trade secrets for the benefit of another organization or individual is punishable. The law will be watertight to prevent and disco......middle of paper ......e information which in most cases is very fast. The attacker's identity and location are easily manipulated by installing new programs otherwise known as viruses that ensure they get away with it scot-free. It is therefore very difficult to identify the culprits and no legal action is taken against such activities because there is little information to determine the origin of the theft. Works CitedNasheri, H. (2004). Economic espionage and industrial espionage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (2010). Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage, Fiscal Year 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2010 from http://www.ncix.gov/index.htmlPublic Law: Economic Espionage Act of 1996 Retrieved November 16, 2010 November 2010 from http://www.iwar.org.uk/ecoespionage/resources/ecointact1996.pdf