US Meat & Dairy Industry is Spying on Thousands of Animal Rights Activists
Smadar Spector
Animal Agriculture Alliance, which is funded by the US livestock industry and has a direct line to the FBI, has a database tracking the lives of 2,400 activists.
Thousands of animal rights activists and prominent charities are the subjects of a mass surveillance campaign run by a meat industry interest group, a new investigation has found.
Animal Agriculture Alliance (AAA), a lobbying organisation for the livestock industry funded partly by public money, has shared information about the personal relationships and biological ties of members in animal welfare groups, according to an investigation by DeSmog.
Leaked documents from the last decade show how the meat and dairy sector works to track and discredit its critics at a time when climate and health experts are calling on consumers and policymakers to shift away from a food system heavy on animal proteins. They further shed light on efforts to crack down on undercover activists who film or report on farm conditions.
.......................How Animal Agriculture Alliance keeps tabs on activists
DeSmog analysed more than 400 pages of documents, including emails, meeting minutes and online resources, to find that the AAA created detailed profiles of undercover activists and a database of over 2,400 individuals.
In one instance, the organisation provided real-time updates on the location of one animal activist through social media updates, as well as shared the name and a photo of his partner, with industry members who were passing intelligence to the local sheriff.
It also mapped “biological or marriage” ties between members of well-known groups like Compassion in World Farming, and Mercy for Animals, and labelled non-profits like Peta and the Humane World for Animals as “high risk”.
Some AAA members themselves went undercover in animal rights groups to report on daily meetings and protest plans against the meat industry.
The organisation has regularly briefed local and federal government departments on “extreme activities”, an umbrella term it uses for acts spanning arson and harassment to banner drops and “observation” of farm conditions.
.....................
If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. (Will Rogers)
the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Until every cage is empty. Until every animal is free
יש מלאכים שהצמיחו פרווה במקום כנפיים
התחברות אל בע"ח במקום לשלוט בהם מרוממת אותנו לכוכבים (ברברה קלו הנד)