Does Obtaining Private Information Constitute Theft?

Question: I work in real estate brokerage. To facilitate operations, my company's boss spends money to purchase homeowners' private information and phone numbers from property management companies or sales offices. Both the boss and those who sell this information have committed theft. If the boss later arranges for this stolen homeowner information to be used by employees below him, do the employees commit theft? If an employee actively solicits information from home buyers and uses it, does that constitute theft?

Answer: In this matter, it depends on whether the bosses of the property management company and the sales office consent. If they do not consent, then even buying it with money constitutes theft. It also depends on whether the home buyer is willing; if the home buyer does not consent to having their phone information bought with money, then it constitutes theft. However, in matters like this, home-buying customers certainly don't care, since having multiple channels for purchasing a home benefits them. When the boss lets employees use the purchased information, the employees do not commit theft, because it was not the employees who stole the information. If an employee obtains information by requesting it from home buyers themselves and then uses it, this does not constitute theft, because it was obtained by asking.