In this case, it is believed by some CI practitioners that not revealing the fact that X works for the company in addition to being a part-time student is completely ethical.
In other words, X is misleading the competitor into thinking the information given to him will be used to complete a school assignment and nothing more, although, in reality, he would be gathering commercial intelligence to present to his employer.
On the other hand, some argue that the CI practitioners are at fault because they deliberately planned on being in those surroundings in hopes to overhearing some information, which raises concerns about the ethics of the matter.
However, a clear solution is obvious; the practitioners agree that they should never service competing clients at the same time to keep classified information secure.
[10] In 2000, Oracle Corporation hired a detective agency to investigate two research groups that supported Microsoft during the antitrust trial.
Oracle and the hired detective agency may have acted in questionable matters to obtain that information, but they believe that the outcome justifies their actions.
[12] WestJet later issued a rare apology to its rival and Robert Milton, the chief executive of parent ACE Aviation Holdings Inc, admitting that its actions of online snooping "were both unethical and unacceptable" and ended up paying AirCanada $15.5 million in legal fees as well as donating $10-million to children's charities in the names of both airlines.
SCIP is a global not-for-profit association whose 7,000 members conduct competitor research and analysis for large and small companies, and help manage planning competitive strategy.
Since 1986, SCIP has developed drastically and globally, and has, today, chapters all around the world as well as alliance partnerships with numerous independent affiliate organizations.
[16] SCIP Chapters are the best way for members to build relationships within the competitive intelligence discipline in their area.
In addition, the SCIP offers Collegiate Chapters for students who show interest in the world of commercial and competitive intelligence.
Participant students in the Collegiate Chapter are offered training and education programs that represent unique opportunities for professional advancement.
[17] Economic espionage represents a failure of Commercial Intelligence, which uses open sources and other forms of ethical inquiry.