3.3 million e-mails between the most powerful men are about to be released.

Re:3.3 million e-mails between the most powerful men are abo... by angersock on Wednesday December 28, 2011 @08:52PM (#3402229)

The whole "but nothing was destroyed" argument is a whole other argument, but equally as weak. The fact that exclusive access information has value has been long established, and there are numerous precedents in the physical world showing it. The best example is someone breaking into a commercial office, gaining access to private commercial documents which they can use in negotiations. Clearly harm has been done, as it has in this case.

So, lost profits due to being in a worse bargaining position is hardly a "harm". The company in question can either go through the negotiations in a weaker position, or they can walk away from the table. This is a case of better matching the (true) price of sale for the seller and consumer.

Ignorance is what allows large profits to be made, and as far as I recall unrealized profits shouldn't be claimed as harms.

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Re:3.3 million e-mails between the most powerful men are abo... by nl on Wednesday December 28, 2011 @09:24PM (#3402296)

So, lost profits due to being in a worse bargaining position is hardly a "harm".

You might not agree, but there is plenty of case law against you.

If you don't like that example, there are plenty of others showing the value of private information regardless of its destruction (for example, there is a whole genre of entertainment build around the spy novel|film).

The real issue is the fact you disagree with that, and are presenting your opinion as fact.

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