4 ms·
> privacy policy of a closed-source product that will be collecting and selling your data I know this the general HN opinion of free & closed software, but I t
by Hawxy 5y ago
> privacy policy of a closed-source product that will be collecting and selling your data
I know this the general HN opinion of free & closed software, but I think this is one scenario where it doesn't ring true. On top of Discord's privacy policy explicitly disallowing/negating data selling, the CEO, CTO and CFO have all made public statements that they have no interest in the monetization of user data. The CTO has suggested that they're at least breaking even with Nitro subscriptions, and they've shrugged off acquisition attempts, instead wishing to go public at some point.
The risk of Discord performing commercial suicide via a data selling scandal appears exceptionally unlikely.
- thih9 5y agoFor now. Their goal is still to make money and as with any freemium product, the rules might change.
- Levitz 5y agoIt's as simple as waiting until they have enough market saturation to be able to dismiss any competition and start selling data then.
- Jasper_ 5y agoThey've taken nearly $1b in funding [0] (likely over that goal now, given the last few rounds were undisclosed). Regardless of their current costs now, I doubt they'll ever make up $1b on a subscription product. And investors are likely looking for a 10x return, which means an exit of $10b. I doubt they can get there by either selling data, or by selling subscriptions. Turning down the $12b acquisition offer from Microsoft felt like a foolish move; I expect they'll get bought out by someone like Amazon for half that price. [0] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/discord https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/discord