Trade Secrets: From Second Class To Second Best

The reality of today's trade secrets - generally understood as "commercially valuable and not publicly available information with limited access"-  is mainly shaped by the advent of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" which has led to the digitization of entire social and economic environments and the creation of new technologies. On the other side of the coin, this achievement has also been shown capable of distorting digital information quite easily, be it by means of theft, unauthorized copying, economic espionage or violation of confidentiality obligations, not counting the fact that information today travels borderless at light speed and cannot entirely be controlled anymore (just think of big hacks like Ashley Madison or Home Depot and security leaks like Meltdown or Spectre).