????富德表示，也曾有公司請他調查一些隱私秘聞，但不是人們通常想的那樣。“有一次，有家公司不相信他們的競爭對手的成本能壓得那么低，于是他們很嚴肅地問道：‘我們認為那家公司可能是為黑手黨洗錢的，你能不能調查一下？’”富爾達表示，雖然經過調查，那家公司并不是黑手黨所有，但他也沒能調查出它的成本到底為什么能夠壓得那么低。

????伯奈切說，有時收集“情報”靠的是一種傳統的方式——打電話。他說：“營銷部門是獲取信息的一個好地方。而且我發現，銷售人員很愛聊天，他們喜歡糾正別人。”

????伯奈切說，他有時會故意說錯話，好讓競爭對手的銷售人員糾正他，然后在這個過程中順口透露一些信息。“有時他們會說漏嘴，從而泄露一些信息。盡管這本來不是你可以搜尋的信息，但并不代表不能把它派上用場。”

????譯者：樸成奎

????Fuld says he has received requests to dig up dirt but not in the way one would think. "I had one company who couldn't believe their competitor could be such a low-cost operator," says Fuld. "They seriously asked, 'We think that company is a money laundering front for the mafia, can you please check it out?'" Fuld says that while the mafia didn't own it, he did find out why the company was able to keep costs low.

????For Bernaiche, sometimes gathering "intelligence" comes down to making good old-fashioned phone calls. "Marketing departments are great places to get information from," says Bernaiche. "And I've found that sales people love to talk, they love to correct you."

????Bernaiche says he will sometimes make an intentionally false statement so that a competitor's salesperson will correct him and give out information in the process. "Sometimes they'll slip up and reveal information, but just because they give you information you're not supposed to have, doesn't mean you can't use it."