This is another illustrative example of the insidious reciprocal relationships forged between our government and the huge corporations they represent. Frankly, after the Snowden revelations, I figured it'd only be a matter of time until we also discovered that corporations other than the telecoms and tech companies would soon get into the data collection process. I didn't know, however, that it would take such a short time.

In response to an Ecuadorian court's finding that Chevron had wittingly dumped toxic waste into Amazon River waterways used by indigenous groups for drinking water -- causing massive harm to the greater Amazonian rainforest -- the giant oil corporation filed a countersuit in the U.S. alleging plaintiffs in the Ecuadorian case conspired to defraud the company. One of three subsequent rulings by a federal judge in New York just granted Chevron broad access to any documents Microsoft has possession of related to the identity of 30 anonymous individuals they allege are of interest in the litigation. The subpoena covers every individuals' IP address over the period of the past nine years.



The case involves an $18.2 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuador court, for massive environmental contamination from oil drilling. As part of this lawsuit, Chevron has subpoenaed Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo to request all information related to the email addresses of more than 100 advocates, journalists, lawyers, and others. These individuals are not parties to the suit, but Chevron alleges that they are involved directly or indirectly in the litigation, and may have been outspoken critics of Chevron’s conduct. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan explains the scope of what Chevron was seeking from Microsoft:

Remember, some of these records belong to people indirectly involved in the case. How they were determined to be involved remains unclear.