 |  |  |  |
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
 |  | ||
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
 | |||
| | | |
| |||
| |||
| |||
| | ||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
| |||
|
We are talking about industrial espionage when a company makes efforts to acquire the secrets of its competitors in order to strengthen its own financial positions, and to gain larger market shares. Industrial espionage is usually not carried out by the secret service of a certain government but is done on behalf of a competing company. By the illegal accession of information companies can save significant amounts of research costs and by knowing the strategy of the other party they can take over their competitors, or can acquire more favourable decision in the judgement of tenders. It is very much likely that industrial espionage was a problem in the early ages, too. However, only records of later ages went down to posterity. With the dawn of industrial development the time of industrial spies came, whose task was to acquire the secrets of inventors. In the process of industrial espionage such important phases were the acquisition of information concerning the manufacturing of porcelain, rubber and the first steam engine. Porcelain "The longest war was continued for ages by witty spies to get the meticulously guarded secret of porcelain manufacturing (often called white gold)." According to presumptions the Chinese manufactured porcelain, which was filmy, yet outstandingly hard, as early as in the 7th century. Porcelain reached Europe only by the end of the 13th century and rapidly spread in the centuries to come without anyone knowing the secret of its production. It decorated the tables of sovereigns and noblemen, since they were the only ones who could afford it. The Chinese tried to mystify the secret even more by legends and myths. Since they enjoyed a monopoly in manufacturing porcelain, the price of china was very high for a very long time. The mystery of porcelain manufacturing was uncovered in Europe only in the 18th century. The secret reached Paris with the assistance of a Catholic priest, d'Entrecolles, who had served as a Jesuit missionary in China. The priest paid a visit to the centre of the royal porcelain manufacture (Kin Te-chen) where he carefully observed everything, then passed on his information to Europe in the form of letters. He gave minute accounts of his visit to the "secret city". He described the location of the city, the life of the potter families living there, and the security measures introduced, in detail. He carefully observed the process of porcelain production. In spite of the distrust of the Chinese authorities and the stringent security measures the priest managed to send a sample of china clay, (also called porcelain clay, or kaolin) one of the main basic raw materials of porcelain to Europe.  However, china clay was the very material missing for the production of porcelain in Europe. Kaolin is a mineral substance coming into being with the decay of feldspar or rock containing feldspar. Its quality and pureness depend on the nature of the mother rock, the intensity of the decay process and the quantity of alien substances present in it. These factors influence the colour, the plasticity and the incombustibility, to put it short, the usability of the material. It gained its name from the hill rising not far from the "secret city", where it was extracted from. It was Johann Friedrich Böttger, an alchemist serving the Saxon prince-elector, who first succeeded in producing hard porcelain in Europe. This porcelain was red, but it was as hard, as shiny as real china, moreover it made a similar clinking sound, too. The news of red porcelain spread all over Germany and its production was launched, too. Meanwhile, Böttger continued his experiments, he wanted to find out how to produce white porcelain. The discovery of china clay in Europe was a matter of mere chance. Böttger took notice of the funny white powder, which his barber had used to whiten his wig. The barber told him that the material (called "snorr-soil") he was using was cheaper than the French powder but could be equally well used. It gained its name from a merchant, who was riding on horseback from Dresden to a village, called Aue. In the course of his journey he discovered that both he and his horse were covered in white dust. He looked around and found a whole mountain of this white powder, therefore he returned later and carried bagfuls of the white dust home and sold it as powder. Böttger used this material for the manufacturing of white porcelain. This is how genuine white china containing kaolin was first produced in Europe. This secret was also carefully guarded. Böttger's laboratory was a real fortress. Nevertheless, it was impossible to stop the spreading of the secret of "white gold". Nine years later porcelain was produced in Vienna, too. Soon kaolin was found in France, as well, where first it was thought to be the raw material of soap. Relying on father d'Entrecolles' letters the royal manufacture of Sevres succeeded in producing china equal in quality to Chinese porcelain. Owing to the book "The History of China" containing an abbreviated form of father d'Entrecolles' reports published in Paris and to the activity of Thomas Briand spying into the secrets of the French production procedures, the British started manufacturing porcelain, too, in the second half of the 18th century. In Hungary the production of porcelain was begun in 1825, making use of the kaolin found in Telkibánya. Because of the poor quality of kaolin, the quality of the porcelain was unsatisfactory, too, so the manufacture of Telkibánya turned back to the production of stoneware. The first factory to deal with the continuos production of china was Herend, where good quality kaolin imported from the Czech city of Sedlec was used. Rubber The rubber tree (hevea brasiliensis) indigenous in Brazil belongs to the same plant family as wolf's milk. The main raw material of rubber production is gained from its sap. In the countries lying along the river Amazonas the plant is also called "weeping tree". The first sample of smoked rubber reached England as early as 1734 but people did not know what to do with it. It gained its English name "rubber", when someone accidentally found out that it could be used for rubbing pencil marks off paper. It was announced by the English Samuel Peal but nothing could be heard about it for a long time. The American Charles Goodyear had the new method of processing rubber, vulcanisation, patented in 1845. This became later the basis of rubber industry. Goodyear did everything he possibly could to keep the procedure in secret. The prolongation of the patent could only ensure partial safety as the spies of competing manufacturers were continuously working on the acquisition of the production secret. The rapid and intensive growth of the rubber industry greatly contributed to the development of Brazil, because this country was the sole exporter of the raw material in those days. The Brazilians introduced security measures to keep their monopolised position. They saw an economic spy in every traveller from an alien country. Nevertheless, the English adventurer Henry Wickham succeeded in collecting a bigger amount of hevea seeds and smuggled them out of the country. He planted about seven thousand seeds in London, which shortly came into leaf. When the plants grew stronger the Englishman transported them to the British colonies, Ceylon, India, Borneo, and Malaysia, where they were planted again. The seedlings quickly adapted to the climate of Asia. Soon the plantations became the most important sources of income of these countries. Queen Victoria conferred a title of nobility on Henry Wickham for his deed. The Steam Engine  The first "fire-engine", as it was called at that time, was constructed by an English black-smith in 1711. The machine was invented for pumping water out of mine galleries.The secret of the mechanism was spread around in continental Europe by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach, who constructed an identical copy of the English steam engine. Fischer was one of Europe's great master builders. He had learnt the trade from his father, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach who, being one of the most famous Austrian master builders, was even better known than his son. The construction of the Schönbrunn Palace and the Karlskirche in Vienna are connected to his name. Joseph Emanuel had prepared for his career as a master builder conscientiously. He was sent on a nine-year study tour in 1713, his scholarship was granted to him by the royal court. The first station of his tour was Rome, then he went to France, later he continued his studies in England. During Fischer's stay in England the drainage of Hungarian mines became topical. It was not incidental, therefore, that Fischer turned his attention to the newly invented "fire engine". Dressed as a worker, he visited the factories near Birmingham, where he conducted mensurations on the basis of which he made drawings. Upon his return to Vienna in 1722 he was not only familiarised with the English steam engine but had also gained experiences that he could make good use of. In the same year he constructed the first steam engine of the continent, followed by several others, a few of which were used in Hungarian mines (Selmec and Bélabánya). Apart from being an outstanding engineer, Fischer had a turn for business, as well. He was his own constructor and independent entrepreneur, consequently he gained large profits. Moreover, he could also manage himself very well, not forgetting to suggest the royal court it would be proper to confer on him a noble title for his useful services. The Role of the National Security Office in the field of Industrial Espionage One does not need to be a security expert to see that industrial espionage and economic intelligence gathering continues prospering nowadays, as well. It is almost an inevitable and natural element of business life that competing businesses use secret means and methods to acquire knowledge already gained by others or to identify business associates or the content of contracts in order to know their counterparts'tactics and strategy or to save time and money. For instance, significant companies like IBM or Coca-Cola have established their own intelligence services, too. Those belonging to the intelligence unit are generally subordinated to the marketing manager, but often the work of these private intelligence divisions is connected to the research and development department of the companies. Competing parties may use the method of discrediting each other for which they use the business secrets of the other company. Such behaviour is always immoral but not necessarily illegal. Anybody can be a target if they possess valuable intellectual products or secrets that can bring advantage in business. The companies may possess secrets relevant to economy at a national security level, which the management of the company is obliged to protect adequately. The National Security Office, too, complying with the stipulations of the National Security Act, pays special attention to the protection of companies that have strategic significance from national economy point of view. The Office has established co-operation with these organisations. The National Security Office considers prevention to be its main objective, but pays attention in the course of its work to the detection, hindrance and interruption of illegal activities, as well.
|