Edward Snowden's detention in the Moscow airport transit zone, and the U.S. government's efforts to extradite him, may seem confined to that case's politically charged circumstances. But what if Snowden were merely a malingering corporate employee? Imagine if he had absconded with company secrets (such as the Coca-Cola recipe), or embezzled company funds, and was hiding out halfway across the world. Under what circumstances, if any, could he be forcibly returned to the United States to answer for his actions?
Fans of the 2008 film The Dark Knight will recall the "extradition" of the accountant Lau from Hong Kong. Batman flew to China, grabbed Lau from the skyscraper penthouse and reverse-parachuted into an airplane to return to Gotham City. The financial costs, technology and political consequences involved in such an undertaking relegate that manner of extradition to the creative minds in Hollywood.
