Open source information and Business Secret

Open source information is public information, data that is legally available to anyone. Most of the information sought on any topic, according to intelligence professionals, is publicly available. Estimates go as high as ninety-five percent (95%) as to what is discoverable in the public sector. For example, the vast majority of what a competitor might want to know about a biotechnology firm resides in public sources like magazines, books, databases, and the Internet. The same goes for manufacturers of microprocessors, automobiles, steel, and myriad other products.

Trade secrets are acquired through improper means, for example such as theft, or they are misappropriated through a breach of confidence, as when an employee who has signed a confidentiality agreement discloses a trade secret to an outside party. Trade secrets do not have to be tangible pieces of information- they can be as simple as a "good idea," or as complex as information that will revolutionize an industry. The key is that the idea or information must give its owner advantage over its competitors. Thus, it is imperative that organizations develop a plan to reasonably guard their secrets from disclosure. Two key elements in any plan to protect trade secrets and other proprietary information are nondisclosure agreements and non-competition agreements.

The dividing line between open source information and other targets of corporate intelligence (such as trade secrets) is the right to access. A member of the public can obtain open source data openly, without fear of legal consequences, and the provider of the data desires or has no objection to its release into the marketplace. Trade secrets are the exact opposite: no one but the owner has the right of access, and the owner has no desire to cast the trade secret freely upon the marketplace's waters. The taking of trade secrets, without the owner's permission, violates both state and federal law. Known as economic, industrial, or corporate espionage, theft of trade secrets is a form of business intelligence that goes far beyond open source research.