Chevron Criticized for Prying Into Emails of People Working On Ecuador Case, Says Amazon Defense Coa

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Amazon Defense Coalition

Chevron Criticized for Prying Into Emails of People Working On Ecuador Case, Says Amazon Defense Coalition
Published: October 24, 2012
By Amazon Defense Coalition

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nation's leading online privacy organization is accusing Chevron of violating the First Amendment and trying to intimidate its critics by prying into the private email accounts of 71 individuals connected to the Amazon villagers who recently won a historic $19 billion judgment against the oil giant.

In a brief filed this week in federal court in San Francisco, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said Chevron's subpoenas to Google and other internet service providers are "staggering" in their overbreadth, violate personal privacy, and have engendered fear for the personal safety of those aware of the oil giant's campaign of intimidation against lawyers and their allies who won the judgment.

The brief argued that Chevron's request for information should be denied because it was nothing more than a "fishing expedition" for information that would allow it "to create a comprehensive and detailed map of each person's movements over a nine-year period."

"This information would allow Chevron a virtual itinerary of who each individual has met with, what buildings they worked out of, what organizations they have worked with, and other potentially sensitive information implicating associational freedoms, which are protected by the First Amendment," the EFF argued in its motion.

Read more: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/10/24/4361920/chevron-criticized-for-prying.html#storylink=cpy

[Dustlawyer]

1. I am an attorney that works for a Plaintiff's firm that is working on the BP oil spill case.

We also led the case on the BP Texas City explosion case. We we followed by private investigators who took pictures of us, our homes, families, and our clients. They denied it until we proved it by catching one of the investigators in one of our attorneys front yard. She had been taking pictures through his living room window of his young daughter. They were trying to dig up dirt and harass us. They even subpoenaed my bosses fiancé as a trial witness with the excuse that maybe my boss had leaked confidential client communications in pillow talk. What is our world coming to? This has gone beyond crazy! The son of a bitches even budgeted for the price of their worker's lives! Next time you see a warm and fuzzy oil company commercial, think about what they really are!

[Proletariatprincess]

2. I hope that not too many people are fooled by those warm and fuzzy oil company commercials....

but I am sure there are some who are, as incredible as that seems to those of us who know better.
Corporations at best, are ammoral. Most corporations are dispicable with no redeeming qualities.
I wish you the very best, Dustlawyer, in your fight against BP. May you achieve the justice your clients deserve and thank you for being one of the good guys.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. Could you clarify something for me?

While I am completely in favor of EFF's action in this matter, as a point of law (and my layman's understanding of it) how was Chevron violating the First Amendment? The proscription ("Congress shall make no law...&quot enjoins only the government from violating rights of free expression/association, not individuals or corporations. Is EFF's argument that if the court allows the subpoena this would be a violation?

[Dustlawyer]

4. I am far from a Constitutional scholar since those classes were 25 years ago for me, but,

if I read your question correctly, the Constitution protects free speech, privacy etc. not only from Government, but from others. There become grey areas where someone's rights bump up against other's rights, and that is where different case law comes in depending on the circumstance. For example, your employer may read all emails you write at work on their computers, subject to some restrictions that may vary state to state, plus whatever the Federal law is, such as giving the employees notice that they intend to reserve that right. Expectation do privacy, whether or not a person has a "reasonable" expectation of privacy, such as my colleague's daughter in her living room vs. her playing in the front yard makes a difference. Hope this helps, I just had to do this off the cuff late. I spent the evening listening to a live speech from none other that President Bill Clinton, who came to Beaumont, Texas on less than 24 hours notice to help former Democratic Congressman Nick Lampson! He told us he is taking tomorrow off, it's his wife's birthday!