China “suspected of spying at Swedish universities”

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1397&date=20050509

China “suspected of spying at Swedish universities”

(AFP/The Local) China is suspected of hiring scientists to spy and steal unpatented research from Swedish universities, Swedish public radio reported on Monday.

Quoting an unnamed detective within Sweden’s security service, Säpo, radio news program Ekot reported that guest scientists from China were suspected of stealing unpublished and unpatented research from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

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wow! just wow. this is the sort of thing i just don’t expect to come from Sweden. Oh, I can see it happening… that is not an issue, knowledge is ’stolen’ or more precisely ’shared’ all the time. That is the nature of science, it is communal and shared. It is not personal/private and owned. However, when states stop underwriting knowledge generation and knowledge producers have to turn to profit and guarantee mechanisms to ensure their future livelihood and the continued existence of their institutions, traditional understandings start to fade awy.