Ikea Accused Of Spying On Employees And Customers

The friendly giant of affordable, hard-to-pronounce furniture is currently under investigation in France for spying on workers and prying into the personal backgrounds of dissatisfied American customers. Two French unions filed complaints, charging that Ikea hired a private detective to snoop into secret police files.

The satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine published emails allegedly exchanged between the head of the company's risk management department, Jean-Francios Paris, and Yann Messian of Surete International (Security International), about getting access to the confidential police files of employees and customers. The newspaper claimed that Surete offered to get the files for 80 euros each, and would also provide access to a database of vehicle owners, reports Agence France-Presse.