Jed sed:
> There is nothing more ephemeral that a vitally important trade secret. > Trade secrets about unimportant technology sometimes last for decades. Stealing trade secrets is probably right up there with absconding with military secrets. I wish I could find a brief You-Tube clip from the original Star Trek series, where Spock plays a double agent. The Vulcan keeps the Romulan captain preoccupied by wooing her while Kirk goes undercover. Kirk teleports into the bowels of the Romulan vessel's engine room in order to track down and steal a new secret stealth device known as the "cloaking device." After an obligatory amount of running and jumping about Kirk manages to steal the cloaking device. When the Romulan captain finally realizes the fact that she had been had by the steely eye Vulcan she turns to him and expresses her displeasure at having been played a pawn in a game of espionage. (Never underestimate the scorn of a woman, no matter what the species.) Spock's reply was something to the effect that: Military secrets are the most fleeting of all secrets. BTW, by the time the Deep Space 9 Star Trek series rolled about the use of the cloaking device had become regulated by various interplanetary treaties. Initially only the Romulans were allowed to use the stealth technology - legally, that is. Well. after all, since they were the race that invented the device. But then, somehow, the Klingons managed to negotiate a deal with the Romulans, or perhaps they made an offer the Romulans couldn't refuse, and now their own bird of prey craft were also retrofitted with the same technology. I would imagine something just as messy will happen with the bulk of so-called "CF" trade secrets. Where trillions of dollars are at stake don't bet on the underlying technology remaining cloaked for very long. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
