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Investor Lawsuit Blames NSA For $12B Loss In IBM Value

Jah-Wren Ryel writes "IBM Corp has been sued by the Louisiana Sheriffs' Pension & Relief Fund which accused it of concealing how its ties to what became a major U.S. spying scandal reduced business in China and ultimately caused its market value to plunge more than $12 billion." While anyone can file a lawsuit, being sued by an institutional investor is a little different than being sued by John Q. Disgruntled.

9 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Capitalism Democracy? by Xicor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i dont think you understand the underlying problem. American companies CANT say no to the government, because they get shutdown. dont you remember lavabit? he did say no to the NSA, and then they started prosecuting him for not giving them the information they wanted. it isnt really a matter of capitalism. as long as there is no oversight on things like the NSA, there will always be abuse. as long as there is no oversight on the NSA, companies cant really ever deny them access.

  2. For the sake of national security by Foxhoundz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I feel like the NSA and the rest of the intelligence apparatuses have gotten to a point where the security of this nation trumps any man made law. If this nation is of and for the people, who the hell is the NSA working for?

  3. NSA/CIA Chilling effects, billion lost. by hackus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can't see how anyone is surprised here.

    Would you purchase anything made by USA companies now if you want your data secure and safe?

    I gave up starting a cloud storage busines for companies hosting apps/storage because there is no way to claim you have a secure and safe storage system when the goon squad can come in with grenades and machine guns and blow the place up looking for any sort of activity they feel is not "legal".

    Secondly, the whole idea that companies outsource I.T. operations to reduce cost can't be made any more with any western institution. The result?

    About 40 people I was going to hire to start this business won't see the light of day.

    This is not just me either. In the investment circles I follow lots of people are leaving or simply shelving plans for any sort of real I.T. services expansion in the USA.

    Those companies that are left and do hosting, Amazon, Google, Microsoft are doing so only because they already share all of their clients data with the NSA/CIA and are permitted to exist as a result.

    The whoel thing is fascist and there is no competition under those sorts of conditions.

    -Hack

    --
    Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
    1. Re: NSA/CIA Chilling effects, billion lost. by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 5, Funny

      Be careful. That chip is labeled as being a 74LS245 but it's really a PIC16F84 programmed to act as one.

    2. Re:NSA/CIA Chilling effects, billion lost. by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 5, Funny

      About 40 people I was going to hire to start this business won't see the light of day.

      Vampire-based businesses traditionally don't do well anyway. Employee retention is difficult because when you tell them you're going to give them a stake in the "business" they misunderstand and flee.

  4. Re:I was wondering by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 5, Interesting

    when this would happen. You just had to know that someone would go after them for this. I wonder how it will hold up in court. The bigger question I have is what else will be found during discovery

    Well, they'll settle out of court if discovery is an option, and ... IBM isn't just someone. They're looking for ways to mitigate their (other) problems.

    No, this is distinctly different than, say ... Facebook going after them. Or Microsoft. Or Apple. Or Samsung.When a company that is already 'losing ground' looks to blame others for their problems, that's a different scenario than a company that isn't threatened pursuing the same lawsuit. The outcome may be the same, which may be all that matters (to some, in theory), but the reasons are completely different. You wouldn't say that a police officer breaking a window to enter a home is the same as a criminal breaking a window to enter your home ... one is looking to profit, the other is looking to protect (again, in theory).

    --
    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
  5. Re:Capitalism Democracy? by AJWM · · Score: 5, Interesting

    They don't always shut down the company.

    Sometimes they just arrest the COB/CEO. You don't really imagine there was zero connection between Joe Nacchio of Qwest refusing to give NSA customer records without a court order (this back in 2001) and his being arrested and jailed for insider trading, do you?

    (He may have engaged in some questionable trades but nothing that other corporate execs have done without getting hit with such severe penalties.)

    --
    -- Alastair
  6. Re:Capitalism Democracy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    NSA has been acting as the boot forever stomping on the human face. This kind of behavior can be stopped by Obama (he's further up the NSA's chain of command, but still in the chain of command) but he hasn't done so. I can only guess that he's a force behind illegal NSA activity to which he'll still claim he "didn't know" about, just as he's claimed ignorance on the ACA website, or NSA surveillance on European allies. He's still culpable for the NSA's illegal activity, will he claim he didn't know that he has broken his oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution?

  7. Re:I was wondering by cold+fjord · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I expect that if lawsuits become a problem in this regard that a previous solution for a similar problem will be reused. Actually, that very solution may apply in this case in some regards.

    Obama administration backs telecom immunity

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell