Consumer Privacy

News reports of AT&T, Verizon and other phone companies sharing customer data with the National Security Agency without obtaining a warrant as required by law are alarming. There is a long history of abuse of surveillance by intelligence agencies. Public figures like Martin Luther King and John Lennon as well as countless other citizens were monitored during the Vietnam war by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI for no reason other than their opposition to government policies. Today, technology enables surveillance which is at once more intrusive and less apparent than ever before. Ensuring Americans can communicate privately in the absence of probable cause is more important than ever.

As You Sow is taking a leading role in challenging telecommunications companies on this critical freedom. We are mobilizing the investment community to press AT&T, Verizon and other telecommunications companies on alleged data sharing with the government and other routine invasion of customer privacy.

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Political Contributions

Shareholders know little about corporate gifts to political parties and groups. Under current political donation disclosure rules, companies are not required to report political donations. Only political contribution recipients must report them. This makes it difficult for shareholders to learn about or track these expenditures. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many boards of directors conduct little serious oversight of these expenditures.

Corporate executives have substantial discretion in the political contributions they make with corporate funds. The absence of company disclosure and oversight by boards of directors gives them license to direct those funds as they please.

We believe a significant amount of money has been used to finance agendas that are antithetical to the interests of companies and their shareholders. For example, SBC Communications, Bell South, Union Pacific and Altria Group have contributed to Americans for a Republican Majority, a group which in turn funds groups like the Traditional Values Coalition who are opposed to gay rights. This agenda conflicts with the stated policies of the donor companies, who have committed to prohibiting discrimination in hiring based on sexual orientation and provide benefits to same sex partners. Some even fund special programs for gay and lesbian employees. Find out about our recent victories on this issue.

As You Sow has filed shareholder resolutions for 2006 at Clear Channel Communications, ExxonMobil and Monsanto calling for more complete reporting on their political contributions.

The Center for Political Accountability is a non-profit group that seeks to bring transparency to corporate giving and make management accountable for their company's contributions. For the last three years, the center has offered templates for shareholder proposals asking companies to disclosure their contributions and the policies that justify the giving.

Absent a system of accountability, corporate executives will be free to use company assets for political objectives that are not necessarily shared by and may be inimical to the interests of companies and their shareholders.

Some leading companies including companies like Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer have agreed to publish their corporate political contribution policies and contributions.

As part of this effort, As You Sow began its initiative with shareholder proposals in 2006 asking for political contributions disclosure from Clear Channel Communications, ExxonMobil and Monsanto.