Q&A: Making Use of Information Obtained by Deceit
Making Use of Information Obtained by Deceit
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I heard a story about two competing technology companies that were developing a similar technological product. One of the companies obtained information about its competitor, through deceit, regarding its plans for the product. The information obtained was only the data rate that the product was supposed to support. The company that obtained the information was surprised by it, because it had been planning to support a lower rate, and after obtaining the information they made efforts to support a higher rate and indeed succeeded. The question of what rate to support depends on how many resources the company wants to invest and on what currently exists in the market, where the goal is usually to beat what currently exists on the market by a little. Was the company permitted to make any use of information obtained through deceit?
Best regards,
Answer
In straightforward Jewish law, there is no prohibition on using information that was obtained through problematic means. The obtaining itself, of course, may be prohibited.
According to what I argued in my article on copyright, in Jewish law there is a Torah-level prohibition against stealing information, namely deception. If that is correct, then there is also a prohibition against using that information.