1. One corporate spy said, “Companies do this in order to stay in front of problems.” Can you envision a business problem so dangerous that you would approve a spy mission if you were in charge?

2. Are there ever circumstances in which corporate spying is ethical? If so, what are they?

3. Recently, LinkedIn reposted a tweet that questioned whether Facebook was appropriate for public schools. Is it ever ethical for a company to attempt to undermine another in this way?

In a conference call with investors and financial analysts, the chief financial officer (CFO) for a major corporation outlines the company’s positive expected earnings for the next quarter despite some serious economic challenges. Unknown to the CFO, party to this conference call is an ex-CIA interrogator trained in “tactical behavioral assessment.” The investigator detects nervousness and evasiveness in the CFO’s hurried answers to questions. In his report, he concludes that the CFO is probably lying.

Who is the recipient of the report? A hedge fund. Based on the report, the fund shorts the company’s stock—selling borrowed shares in anticipation that the price will drop—and when the company’s earnings do fall short of expectations, the hedge fund buys the shares back at the lower price and profits greatly.

Whatever trust you may place in the ability of investigators to detect lying, this sort of espionage happens. And it goes further. When Swiss chocolatier Nestlé was trying to sell a chocolate-covered toy in the United States, its U.S. competitor, Mars, covertly used consultants to prod government officials with misinformation that the toy was a safety hazard. The strategy worked. Learning of Mars’ activities, Nestlé paid former Secret Service agents to bribe garbage collectors so it could acquire Mars’ corporate trash and counterspy.

Chinese companies hacked into Google’s website, gaining access to corporate premises using night-vision glasses stolen from a U.S. military contractor. Hewlett-Packard used “pretexting” by investigators who impersonated HP board members in order to obtain their phone records as a means to investigate it own board members. These stories are all true.