How the FBI Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring

Re:How the FBI Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring by bayesianhorse on Saturday May 17, 2014 @12:50AM (#7759260)

I sometimes wonder about the economics of these activities. Apparently China lets well educated, highly intelligent Chinese work for US companies, to spy on them, rather than working "genuinely" for a Chinese company. So either the secrets are extremely valuable, or they can't do R&D worth a damn at home.

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Re:How the FBI Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring by humbledrone on Saturday May 17, 2014 @03:36AM (#7759509)

Most highly educated people employed by companies tend to work on teams of varying sizes (but rarely consisting of just one person). Thus if a spy could report back significant details about the work of even a small team (maybe 5-10 people) it seems like the economics would work out quite well. Bigger teams would pay off proportionately more.

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Re:How the FBI Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring by bayesianhorse on Saturday May 17, 2014 @04:26AM (#7759585)

That would be true, if the spy can transfer all the results of the team, and doesn't need any supporting infrastructure or agents...

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Re:How the FBI Cracked a Chinese Spy Ring by kiiski on Saturday May 17, 2014 @09:56AM (#7760126)

Maybe "well educated, highly intelligent Chinese" are dime a dozen, so it doesn't matter if some of them work abroad.

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