Tag Archives: corporations

What Kind of Crazy Anti-Environment Bills Is ALEC Pushing Now?

by AlysaNivison Posted on December 6, 2013

Mother Jones

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The American Legislative Exchange Council may be hemorrhaging members and grappling with a funding crisis, but that hasn’t hampered its ambitions. In 2013, the conservative outfit, which specializes in generating state-level legislation, launched a multi-front jihad on green energy, with more than 77 ALEC-backed energy bills cropping up in state legislature. Among the most prominent were measures to repeal renewable energy standards and block meaningful disclosure of chemicals used in fracking. Most of these bills failed. But as state lawmakers and corporate representatives gather in Washington this week for the group’s three-day policy summit, ALEC is pushing ahead with a new package of energy and environmental bills that will benefit Big Energy and polluters.

More MoJo reporting on the American Legislative Exchange Council.


ALEC’s Campaign Against Renewable Energy


ALEC Boots Mother Jones From Its Annual Conference


What Kind of Crazy Anti-Environment Bills Is ALEC Pushing Now?


Study: ALEC Is Bad for the Economy


Forced to Work Sick? That’s Fine With ALEC


ALEC in 1985: S&M Accidents Cause 10 Percent of San Francisco’s Homicides

On Wednesday, The Guardian reported some details of ALEC’s anti-green-energy offensive and its new policy roadmap, which began taking shape at an August gathering of the group’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force in Chicago. The newspaper focused largely on ALEC’s efforts to undermine net-metering policies, which allow private citizens to sell excess power from rooftop solar panels to utilities. (“As it stands now, those direct generation customers are essentially freeriders on the system,” John Eick, an ALEC legislative analyst, told the Guardian.) But the group’s energy task force—which includes as members fossil fuel interests, such as Koch Industries and Exxon Mobil—will also be peddling other pro-corporate state initiatives, some with far-reaching implications. Below is a roundup:

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What Kind of Crazy Anti-Environment Bills Is ALEC Pushing Now?

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The Gates Foundation’s Hypocritical Investments

by Aaron Stone Posted on December 6, 2013

Mother Jones

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With an endowment larger than all but four of the world’s largest hedge funds, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is easily one of the most powerful charities in the world. According to its website, the organization “works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.” So how do the investments of the foundation’s $36 billion investing arm, the Gates Foundation Trust, match up to its mission? We dug into the group’s recently released 2012 tax returns to find out.

The Gates Foundation did not respond to requests for comment; however, its investment policy says the the trust’s managers “consider other issues beyond corporate profits, including the values that drive the foundation’s work.”

In its most recent annual report to investors, private prison company GEO group listed some risks to its bottom line, including “reductions in crime rates” that “could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences,” along with immigration reform and the decriminalization of drugs. Military contractor DynCorp, meanwhile, has faced allegations of fraud, mismanagement, and even slavery from the Middle East to Eastern Europe.

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The Gates Foundation’s Hypocritical Investments

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Just 90 Companies Caused Two-Thirds of Man-Made Global Warming Emissions

by Charlie Smith Posted on November 20, 2013

Mother Jones

This story first appeared on the Guardian website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.

The companies range from investor-owned firms—household names such as Chevron, Exxon, and BP—to state-owned and government-run firms.

The analysis, which was welcomed by the former Vice President Al Gore as a “crucial step forward” found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas, or coal, found the analysis, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Climactic Change.

“There are thousands of oil, gas, and coal producers in the world,” climate researcher and author Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in Colorado said. “But the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or two.”

Click here to explore the Guardian‘s interactive roster of the companies behind climate change. via The Guardian

Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the past 25 years—well past the date when governments and corporations became aware that rising greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal and oil were causing dangerous climate change.

Many of the same companies are also sitting on substantial reserves of fossil fuel, which—if they are burned—put the world at even greater risk of dangerous climate change.

Climate change experts said the data set was the most ambitious effort so far to hold individual carbon producers, rather than governments, to account.

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Just 90 Companies Caused Two-Thirds of Man-Made Global Warming Emissions

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Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter Have a New Lobbying Target—the NSA

by gammak Posted on November 15, 2013

Mother Jones

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Not a month goes by without former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden dropping another explosive bombshell about the US government’s vast surveillance programs. In response, lawmakers have proposed a flurry of bills that aim to clamp down on NSA spying. But tech companies aren’t just sitting on the sidelines—the latest lobbying disclosure forms filed by Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Twitter reveal that their lobbyists are keeping an eye on a number of these anti-NSA bills. And although most of the companies won’t say which specific bills they support or oppose, some new bills have popped up on their lobbying forms just as the companies are publicly demanding surveillance reform.

The lobbying disclosure forms cover the period from July 1 to September 30, the months immediately following the first Snowden disclosure about the PRISM program in June. Bills introduced after those dates, such as the tech industry-backed USA Freedom Act proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), aren’t included. There are also some bills that were introduced pre-Snowden.

In total, during this period, Facebook spent $1.44 million on lobbying, Yahoo spent $630,000, Google spent $3.37 million, and Twitter spent $40,000. The forms don’t break down whether a company poured thousands of dollars into lobbying for one bill, or had one brief conversation about it with a lawmaker or an aide. Nor do the forms reveal whether companies have lobbied for or against a given bill. And for now, most US tech companies are keeping their positions about specific bills secret, so they can present a unified front against NSA spying and keep their options open.

Representatives of the most important tech companies have, however, made public statements indicating that they’re likely to support bills that allow them to shed more light on government surveillance. “I was shocked that the NSA would do this—perhaps a violation of law but certainly a violation of mission,” Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt told CNN last week, in response to an October 30 Washington Post report that the NSA was tapping into Google’s servers without the company’s consent. “From a Google perspective, any internal use of Google services is unauthorized and almost certainly illegal.” Niki Fenwick, a spokesperson for Google, said that the company doesn’t comment on whether it supports specific bills, but Bloomberg News reported last week that the company, which has bulked up its lobbying presence on Capitol Hill, “seeks to end National Security Agency intrusions into its data.”

“Defending and respecting the user’s voice is a natural commitment for us and is why we are so committed to freedom of expression,” Colin Crowell, Twitter’s vice president for global public policy, tells Mother Jones. A Twitter representative noted that the company is actively supporting two of the bills below, S. 607 and HR 1852, which require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing private emails. “For the others, at any given moment, bills are in a state of change so it is rare to emphatically state that we formally support or oppose any given bill until it is nearer a point of final passage,” the representative added.

Without further ado, here are eight pro-transparency bills that some of the biggest names in tech are watching:

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Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter Have a New Lobbying Target—the NSA

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Can Elon Musk’s Cousin Do for Solar Power What Tesla Has Done for Cars?

by jjhhhjz Posted on November 6, 2013

Mother Jones

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This story first appeared on the Slate website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

In 2004, Lyndon Rive was in an RV on his way to Burning Man when his cousin gave him five words of advice: “You should look into solar.” The way Rive tells it, it sounds a little like Mr. McGuire in The Graduate telling Dustin Hoffman to think about plastics.

Except that Rive’s cousin is Elon Musk. And Musk’s runic advice has led to a $5 billion business that is reshaping how Americans get their electricity.

Just 27 at the time of that RV ride, Rive was already the co-founder and chief executive of a Silicon Valley information-technology business, Everdream, which sold desktop management services to small businesses. It was flourishing, but Rive felt unfulfilled. “I just had this bug I had to address, which is that we have to change the way we burn fossil fuels,” he says over coffee in Manhattan this past summer. “We just have to.” The intensity with which he states this is startling.

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Can Elon Musk’s Cousin Do for Solar Power What Tesla Has Done for Cars?

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Which Is More Evil: Coke or Pepsi?

by HomerSevttp Posted on October 31, 2013

Mother Jones

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In response to a recent lawsuit, the Grocery Manufacturers Association recently revealed the source of $7.2 million in dark money contributions it had solicited to fight Washington’s Initiative 522, a measure on next week’s ballot that would require food companies to label products with ingredients made from genetically modified organisms. Pepsi was the largest contributor to the trade group’s anti-labeling effort, donating $1.6 million. Coca-Cola wasn’t far behind, chipping in another $1 million.

If you don’t like GMOs, then you probably shouldn’t drink either of America’s leading soda brands. But let’s say Coke and Pepsi products are your only options. How do the two soda giants compare on the social responsibility index? Here’s our totally subjective guide to the relative malevolence of America’s favorite pop-making multinationals.

deadliness in excess

cosal.es

Coke: Guzzling between 6 and 10 liters of Coke daily contributed to the sudden death this February of 31-year-old Natasha Harris of New Zealand, according to her coroner’s report.

Pepsi: Nobody would ever drink this much Pepsi.

Most evil: Coke

Sketchy marketing

Coke: Faces an ongoing class-action lawsuit over the health claims of Glacéau Vitaminwater, which contains eight tablespoons of sugar per bottle. Vitamins? Not so much.

Pepsi: In 2011, settled a $9 million class-action lawsuit over Naked Juice’s claims to contain “all natural” and “non-GMO” ingredients.

Most evil: Tie

Paramilitary death squad hiring?

International Action Center to Stop the War in Colombia

Coke: Two of its bottlers hired a Colombian paramilitary group to murder union organizers, according to a 2001 lawsuit filed in the US by the United Steelworkers union. The case was dismissed in 2009, but these and similar allegations in Guatemala, have sparked boycotts and street protests. Coke denies the claims.

Pepsi: Do people in Latin America even drink Pepsi?

Most evil: Coke

orangutan endangering

Alex Aw/Flickr

Coke: Loved by orangutans, apparently.

Pepsi: Contributes to the killing of orangutans by purchasing conflict palm oil, the Rainforest Action Network alleges.

Most evil: Pepsi

racism

Coke

Coke: In 2000, paid $156 million to 2,000 current and former African-American employees to settle what was then the largest racial discrimination case ever.

Pepsi: Last year paid $3.1 million to resolve a federal charge that it discriminated against 300 African-American job applicants.

Most evil: Coke (Pepsi’s case was more recent, but Coke’s was waaay bigger)

Sexism

Edible Apple

Coke: An interactive online ad that ends, in one scenario, with a woman standing next to a bed in her underwear, was lambasted by Sweden’s sexist ad watchdog for portraying women as “pure sex objects.”

Pepsi: To promote an energy drink, released an iPhone app (above) that coaches men on pickup lines and encourages those who “score” to post details such as name, date, and comments to Facebook and Twitter.

Most evil: Pepsi (Objectifying women = bad. Posting names of sexual conquests online = ick!)

Public-Relations LAMENESS

Coke: Funded a (now discredited) Harvard scientist: One of the sweets’ industry’s biggest allies, he touted sugar as perfectly healthy.

Pepsi: Has funded astroturf-y groups like the Heartland Institute, which questions “how bad the obesity problem is.”

Most evil: Coke (People take Harvard seriously. The Heartland Institute, not so much.)

pro-Gluttony Lobbying

New Yorkers For Beverage Choice

Coke: Spent $9.4 million lobbying against a tax on sugary beverages.

Pepsi: Spent $9.2 million lobbying against the tax.

Most evil: Tie

Evicting farmers from their land

CJ Chanco/Flickr

Coke: Criticized by Oxfam for its links to land disputes that have driven subsistence farmers into poverty.

Pepsi: ditto.

Most evil: Tie

Replacing Jesus with a cola-chugging fat guy

Coca-Cola

Coke: Coca-Cola ads that first appeared in 1931 in the Saturday Evening Post and other national magazines popularized the modern image of Santa Claus as a pudgy guy dressed in red. The rest is history.

Pepsi: Pushes an alternative image of Santa as a party dude who secretly drinks Pepsi when he’s on summer vacation at the beach.

Most evil: Pepsi (At least Coke used its Polar Bears to draw attention to global warming.)

Shameless spin

Coke: Its ad (above) about fighting America’s obesity epidemic may have actually contributed to the problem by spinning Coca-Cola products as components of a healthy lifestyle. Critics responded with a parody video that ends with the exhortation: “Don’t drink Coke.”

Pepsi: “We firmly believe companies have a responsibility to provide consumers with more information and more choices so they can make better decisions,” PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi wrote in a PR essay that appeared in one of the country’s most respected annual reports on obesity. Huh?

Most evil: Coke (There’s a reason the parody video has more YouTube views than the actual ad.)

And the winner is . . .

Index of Soda Evil

Now about that Izze you’re drinking… Oh, dang! PepsiCo owns Izze, too.

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Which Is More Evil: Coke or Pepsi?

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Meet the Data Brokers Who Help Corporations Sell Your Digital Life

by 2lgax8lh Posted on October 31, 2013

Mother Jones

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Serving (up) the single ladies

Datalogix tracks the spending habits of more than 110 million households using sources such as store loyalty cards. It partners with Twitter and Facebook to assess whether groups of users buy the cooking gear or brand of shampoo advertised on their social-media pages. Datalogix doesn’t know that a certain Mother Jones journalist bought a quart of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Therapy after changing her Facebook status back to “single,” but it can help determine whether a targeted group of twentysomething professional women who left relationships bought that ice cream.

Opt out? You can do so on the company’s website, but the request takes 30 days to process and each household member must opt out separately.

Companies that sell similar info: Acxiom, Epsilon, BlueKai, V12 Group


Where Does Facebook Stop and the NSA Begin?


Privacy Is Dead, Long Live Transparency!


Timeline: How We Got From 9/11 to Massive NSA Spying on Americans


Meet the Data Brokers Who Help Corporations Sell Your Digital Life


Six Ways to Keep the Government Out of Your Files

Dude, where’s my car?

TLO, a “background research” company, uses technology that scans and reads license plates collected by cameras mounted on parking garages, roads, and bridges from coast to coast. The company claims to have collated more than 1 billion time-stamped reports containing photographs and specific locations of vehicles, which TLO markets to law enforcement agencies, law firms, and data brokers.

Opt out? Not unless you can limit your driving to dirt roads.

Companies that sell similar info: MVTRAC, Vigilant Solutions

Cheap credit scores and…Baby Einstein videos?

With credit reports on at least 299 million consumers, Experian doesn’t just hold the key to whether you’ll get a car loan or home mortgage: It also sells “life-event” data to advertisers, marketing a database that is “updated weekly with the names of expectant parents and families with newborns,” and new homeowners, among other information.

Opt out? Experian allows users to opt out online or by phone but notes that “will not eliminate all targeted advertising.”

Companies that sell similar info: Equifax, TransUnion

Location is everything

As you surf the web, Neustar uses your computer’s IP address to determine your area code, postal code, time zone, whether you’re at home or at work, and whether you’re using your phone. They then sell this data to companies that point ads at you: “Want to meet singles in Washington, DC?”

Opt out? You can do so on Neu­star’s site, although you’ll have to do it again each time you switch browsers or get a new computer.

Companies that sell similar info: MaxMind, Digital Envoy

Background checks on steroids

You’ve seen Intelius’ ads if you’ve ever Googled your eighth-grade crush. The company sells data using more than 20 billion records on individuals, including bankruptcies, arrests, and address histories, mostly culled from public records such as driver’s license databases and court documents. Intelius also collects relevant content from “blogs or social networking sites.”

Opt out? You’ll need to send a state-issued ID card or driver’s license via fax or US mail, and wait 7 to 14 days.

Companies that sell similar info: Spokeo, PeopleFinders, BeenVerified.com

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Meet the Data Brokers Who Help Corporations Sell Your Digital Life

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Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group

by John Grit Posted on October 28, 2013

Mother Jones

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The American Council on Science and Health bills itself as an independent research and advocacy organization devoted to debunking “junk science.” It’s a controversial outfit—a “group of scientists…concerned that many important public policies related to health and the environment did not have a sound scientific basis,” it says—that often does battle with environmentalists and consumer safety advocates, wading into public health debates to defend fracking, to fight New York City’s attempt to ban big sugary sodas, and to dismiss concerns about the potential harms of the chemical bisphenol-A (better known at BPA) and the pesticide atrazine. The group insists that its conclusions are driven purely by science. It acknowledges that it receives some financial support from corporations and industry groups, but ACSH, which reportedly stopped disclosing its corporate donors two decades ago, maintains that these contributions don’t influence its work and agenda.

Yet internal financial documents (read them here) provided to Mother Jones show that ACSH depends heavily on funding from corporations that have a financial stake in the scientific debates it aims to shape. The group also directly solicits donations from these industry sources around specific issues. ACSH’s financial links to corporations involved in hot-button health and safety controversies have been highlighted in the past, but these documents offer a more extensive accounting of ACSH’s reliance on industry money—giving a rare window into the operations of a prominent and frequent defender of industry in the science wars.

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Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group

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Is the Jig Finally Up for Mickey Mouse?

by MarciaHigginbot Posted on October 25, 2013

Mother Jones

As you all know, copyright terms have been steadily lengthened via congressional action. Currently, the term is the life of the author plus 70 years. For works authored by corporations—Superman, Mickey Mouse, etc.—the term is 95 years. Thanks to a retroactive clause passed in 1976, the magic cutoff year for corporate creations is currently 1922. Anything published in 1922 or before is in the public domain. Anything after that is still under copyright.

So what happens in 2018? That’s only five years away! Well, it’s 95 years from 1923, which means that works published in 1923 fall out of copyright. Every year after that, more and more old works enter the public domain. And in 2023 the boom falls: Mickey Mouse will no longer be under copyright.

Will Disney put up with this? Or will they team up with the usual suspects to get the term of copyright extended even further? Tim Lee gives us the lay of the land here.

UPDATE: Sorry, but I bolloxed up the explanation of why 1922 is the current cutoff year for copyright. It’s fixed now.

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Is the Jig Finally Up for Mickey Mouse?

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California Watchdog: “Koch Brothers Network” Behind $15 Million Dark-Money Donations

by GTVMichale Posted on October 25, 2013

Mother Jones

On Thursday, the California attorney general and the state’s top election watchdog named the “Koch brothers network” of donors and dark-money nonprofits as the true source of $15 million in secret donations made last year to influence two bitterly fought ballot propositions in California. State officials unmasked the Kochs’ network as part of a settlement deal that ends a nearly year-long investigation into the source of the secret donations that flowed in California last fall.

As part of the deal, two Arizona-based nonprofits, the Koch-linked Center to Protect Patients Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership, admitted violating state election law. The settlement mandates that the two nonprofits pay a $1 million fine to California’s general fund, and the committees who received the secret donations at the heart of the case must also cut a check to the state for the amount of those donations, which totaled $15.08 million.

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California Watchdog: “Koch Brothers Network” Behind $15 Million Dark-Money Donations

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