Instant Messaging Company Snap Threatens Jail Time for Leakers (cheddar.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Snap has a simple message to its employees: leak information and you could be sued or even jailed. The chief lawyer and general counsel of Snapchat's parent company, Michael O'Sullivan, sent a threatening memo to all employees last week just before The Daily Beast published an explosive story with confidential user metrics about how certain Snapchat features are used. "We have a zero-tolerance policy for those who leak Snap Inc. confidential information," O'Sullivan said in the memo, a copy of which was obtained by Cheddar. "This applies to outright leaks and any informal 'off the record' conversations with reporters, as well as any confidential information you let slip to people who are not authorized to know that information."

Comments

Re:What an asshole!

[swb]

I'm inclined to agree with you, and it sounds more like "Muh business is like the government and you go to jail!".

That being said, just how bendy are the laws on corporate espionage, theft of information, etc? The problem isn't that this is basically a civil dispute between employer and employee, it's that Congress is all too willing to pass laws that criminalize these kinds of disputes and in the employer's favor.

This makes it very convenient for corporations to use the FBI as their private enforcement arm and makes threats of criminal prosecution plausible if not real, especially if the employer does a good job with keeping up with their political subscriptions, er, contributions.

Re:yes criminal

[mark-t]

The economic espionage act requires that the misappropriated trade secrets would or could reasonly be used to benefit a foreign power... the scope for which it can apply is generally limited to confidential material maintained by the government itself.