Corporate Espionage and the Secret War Against Citizen Activism

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/11/21-3



Walmart is one of many corporations confirmed to have conducted espionage against non-profit organizations

Corporate Espionage and the Secret War Against Citizen Activism
- Sarah Lazare, staff writer
Published on Thursday, November 21, 2013 by Common Dreams

A chilling report released Wednesday unveils the well-funded and shadowy world of corporate espionage of social justice organizations, through infiltration, intrusion, spying, wiretaps and more.

According to the study by the Center for Corporate Policy—a project of the Ralph Nader-affiliated Essential Action, today's 'Pinkerton Thugs' are staffed by former law enforcement, CIA, NSA, FBI and military employees, funded by some of the biggest-name corporations in the world, and backed by highly-secretive investigative firms that operate as spy agencies for the private sector.

Titled Spooky Business, the 53-page study pieces together nearly 20 years of information exposing this hidden wing of the private sector, which its author Gary Ruskin says "is just the tip of the iceberg." While targets run the gambit, from anti-war to workers' rights groups to environmental organizations, they appear to have one thing in common: they are perceived as a threat to the corporate bottom-line.

"The key finding of the report is that corporations are conducting espionage against nonprofit organizations," said Ruskin in an interview with Common Dreams. "This is entirely veiled in secrecy and is a threat to an active citizenry, democracy, and the right to privacy."

[jtuck004]

1. Nothing new here. Back in 1935, give o rtake a couple of years, the government had a big

hearing about business and how it was trying to bust unions, etc. One of the federal employees estimated that between business, the Business Unions, and the government, there was about $88 million dollars a year being spent on finks, spies, murderers, goons, police, etc. Put that into an inflation calculator set for 2012 and it is around a billion dollars.

And they have never stopped.