Greenpeace charges Dow Chemical with espionage

In a civil suit filed in DC Superior Court this month, Greenpeace is charging Dow Chemical with trespassing, tapping their phones, hacking into their computer systems and infiltrating their organization.

The International Business Times reports that Greenpeace says Dow worked with others to thwart their environmental campaigns around dioxin and genetically modified organisms.

The group claims that from 1998-2000, investigative security teams hired by Dow’s PR company stole information.

The alleged methods of data collection, at some points, read like a James Bond sequence: Greenpeace dumpsters were foraged by subcontractors, including a D.C. cop using his badge to access trash otherwise locked away; one BBI employee’s girlfriend played lookout while he, dressed in all-black, disappeared with others, returning an hour later with two full trash bags; possibly using a computer program called Data Interception by Remote Transmission (“DIRT”) to monitor and intercept PC data remotely; and the wiretapping of phones and hacking emails, among other methods.

Greenpeace says the company BBI improperly obtained more than 1,000 documents from the organization, and is seeking punitive damages.

In September a federal judge dismissed a racketeering case brought by Greenpeace in this matter.

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