It‘s no secret that big companies, especially the giant multinationals, often have very advanced corporate espionage teams (sometimes staffed by former government spooks). The practices can sometimes be extreme and problematic, like when HP used its corporate espionage team to spy on board members and journalists. However, it seems that with the rise of consumer interest groups and very effective activists, many of these giant companies are using their corporate espionage team to spy on those non-profits and activists instead.