From The Progressive
By Matthew Rothschild

Wal-Mart has won a temporary restraining order against a fired employee who spilled the beans about the company’s spying operations to the Wall Street Journal on April 4.

Bruce Gabbard told the Journal that he was part of a sophisticated company surveillance operation that spied not only on employees but on shareholders and critics. The outfit was called the Threat Research and Analysis Group. He confirmed his story to the Associated Press.

But he won’t be confirming any more stories for a while, since a judge in Benton, Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart, granted the gag order late Friday, April 6. Wal-Mart successfully argued that Gabbard had gabbed about confidential corporate information. The local judge also ordered Gabbard to cough up the names of all persons to whom he has transmitted, since January 15, 2007, any Wal-Mart information, AP reported.

According to Gabbard, Wal-Mart’s spies kept tabs on several groups, including the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). After the story broke, Wal-Mart said it regretted that shareholder groups had been monitored. But that’s not enough for the Interfaith Center. On April 9, it demanded a formal apology.

We were surprised and disappointed to read the results of the Wall Street Journal investigative report, four leaders of the group said in a statement. We view such actions as a serious breach of the trust relationship between shareholders and their company. . . . We ask that Wal-Mart formally apologize to investors and to others whose expectations of privacy has been breached.

Read more Wal-Mart