Zaibatsu, lovely zaibatsu... Monday, 19-Oct-98 03:09:50 Maybe no-one sees the humor in this but me: Wal-Mart Stores sued Amazon.com, accusing the Internet bookseller of stealing trade secrets. The lawsuit, filed in New York, says Amazon has recruited former Wal-Mart associates and targeted the firm's vendors to learn more about its database, which analysts say is second in size only to the US government's and includes data on consumer buying habits. A spokesman for Amazon denied the charge and said Amazon was only "hiring the brightest, hardest-working, and most-talented people." Amazon reportedly wants to be the discount superstore of cyberspace. " That's quite some database, considering the NSA, Hoover's paranoia, et al _m mammon_