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News Articles
| FRANCE: In French Inquiry, a Glimpse at Corporate Spying
by DAVID JOLLY, New York Times
August 1st, 2009
A corporate espionage case unfolding in France involves some of the biggest French companies, including Électricité de France, the world’s largest operator of nuclear power plants, and Vivendi, the media and telecommunications conglomerate. The story has the elements of a corporate thriller: a cast of characters that includes former French spies and military men, an American cycling champion, Greenpeace activists and a dogged judge. |
| US: DOJ Opens Review of Telecom Industry
by Amol Sharma, Wall Street Journal
July 6th, 2009
The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years. The DOJ's antitrust chief has said she wants to reassert the government's role in policing monopolistic and anti-competitive practices by powerful companies. |
| Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology
by Christopher Rhoads in New York and Loretta Chao in Beijing, Wall Street Journal
June 22nd, 2009
European telecommunications companies including Siemens AG and Nokia Corp provided deep packet inspection capability installed with the Iranian governments telecom hub allowing the Iranian government to monitor dissent. Nokia spokesperson Mr. Roome said the company "does have a choice about whether to do business in any country. We believe providing people, wherever they are, with the ability to communicate is preferable to leaving them without the choice to be heard."
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| IRAN: Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology
by Christopher Rhoads and Loretta Chao, Wall Street Journal
June 22nd, 2009
The Iranian regime has developed one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet. The Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection. The monitoring capability was provided, at least in part, by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia Corp., the Finnish cellphone company. |
| CHINA: China Disables Some Google Functions
by Edward Wong, New York Times
June 19th, 2009
After meeting with managers of the Chinese operations of Google on Thursday to warn them, the Chinese government disabled some search functions on the Chinese-language Web site of Google on Friday. Officials alleged the site was linking too often to pornographic and vulgar content. |
CorpWatch Blog
| Stop the Walled Garden!
by Ian Elwood
January 15th, 2008
The web started off as a vast digital commons, but is becoming increasingly enclosed by corporate actors. Activists at Freespeech.org are working against this trend with their new campaign, "It's Our Web." |
CorpWatch Exclusives
 | An Uncomfortable Spotlight in Davos
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
January 31st, 2008
The CEOs of three-quarters of the world's 100 largest companies have just completed an uncomfortable weekend at the tiny Swiss ski resort of Davos, while their companies' share prices nosedived on global stock markets, amid concern that the U.S. economy is staggering towards recession. |
 | Domestic Spying, Inc.
by Tim Shorrock , Special to CorpWatch
November 27th, 2007
A new U.S. intelligence institution will allow government spy agencies to conduct broad surveillance and reconnaissance inside the country for the first time. Contractors like Boeing, BAE Systems, Harris Corporation, L-3 Communications and Science Applications International Corporation are already lining up for possible work. |
 | Intelligence in Iraq: L-3 Supplies Spy Support
by Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch
August 9th, 2006
L-3 Communications, a little-known but gigantic military contractor, provides 300 contract intelligence experts to the Pentagon in Iraq to support operations ranging from interrogation to media analysis. The secretive $426.5 million operation, which is run out of Virginia, may be a recipe for disaster, say critics.
Also see related story, A Translator's Tale, by Pratap Chatterjee. |
 | A Proxy Battle: Shareholders vs. CEOs
by Kevin Kelleher, Special to CorpWatch
June 13th, 2006
Earnest shareholder resolutions presented at company annual general meetings on everything from human rights to executive compensation are routinely shot down in flames. But shareholder resolutions may have an effect, even in defeat. |
 | Money for Nothing and Calls for Free
by Nidhi Kumar and Nidhi Verghese, Special to CorpWatch
February 17th, 2004
As the outsourcing of jobs has become a hot election year issue in the US, call centers in India continue to multiply. Local workers answer calls for US corporations at a fraction of the cost of an American worker. |
Commentary & Analysis
| US: Municipal Wi-Fi: The Internet’s Next Step?
by Martin H. Bosworth, Comsumer Affairs
August 18th, 2006
Municipal Wi-Fi has the potential to be a viable alternative for people sick of the same choices when it comes to Internet access But with powerful corporate interests opposing it and a disinterested Congress, the road ahead is rough. |
| CHINA: Business, and Repression, as Usual
by Richard Cohen, The New York Times
January 19th, 2006
Anatole France in 1894 wrote, "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." In somewhat less literary language, Microsoft has just said the same thing.
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