Pensioners sue IBM over reported NSA involvement

[Indi Guy]

Source: PCWorld

A pension investment group has sued IBM, claiming that the company failed to warn investors that sales in China would slow dramatically following revelations that IBM was helping the U.S. National Security Agency spy on the Chinese.

”IBM was well-aware that its association with the U.S. spy program and its sharing of customers’ information with the U.S. government would have immediate and adverse consequences on its business in China,” reads a lawsuit filed Thursday by the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension and Relief Fund in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York...

Using material first leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in June, the pension fund cited IBM involvement in NSA’s Prism program, which sought to spy on countries such as China with IBM’s aid. IBM hardware sales in that country dipped in the months that followed, first showing up in the company’s third-quarter balance sheet.

”IBM’s association with the NSA presented a material risk to the company’s sales,” the lawsuit said. “Upon the revelation of Prism (and related disclosures made by Edward Snowden), IBM knew that the government of China would not tolerate the company’s cooperation with the NSA, and would prohibit businesses and government agencies in China from purchasing IBM products.”...

Read more: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2080880/pensioners-sue-ibm-over-reported-nsa-involvement.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. More blowback....ha!

Thank god people all over are finding problems due to the spying.

[KoKo]

2. And its the Louisiana Sherrifs Pension Fund!

Who would have thought...

[Indi Guy]

3. That IS pretty interesting. n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

4. A backdoor way to protest

and a legal one at that. Amazing.

[KoKo]

5. Yes...an old lawyer fiend of mine said to me: Look BEYOND the FIRST FILING of

a Large Court Case against the Big Corps. Usually it's a cover for groups behind it that don't want to be identified. He was an "Old Country Lawyer." Like Sam Erwin of Watergate. He knew the ropes. "Always Look behind what you see on first view...he cautioned."

[Pholus]

6. I have no doubt IBM/NSA are doing the same thing as the Chinese....

But somebody should have told these dumbasses that outsourcing electronics assembly puts us at a permanent disadvantage here.

[Ash_F]

7. When you start costing people real money, that's crossing the line

And the lawsuits will fly. Sad but true.

[Wilms]

8. ^