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Bloomberg LP grew up in a different era, when a client of a communication service had no expectation of privacy from the company running it. You think telegraph

by raldi 14y ago

Bloomberg LP grew up in a different era, when a client of a communication service had no expectation of privacy from the company running it. You think telegraph operators weren't snooping on what was being transmitted? Do you know what the song Wichita Lineman is about? Think the mailman doesn't keep tabs on who's subscribing to Playboy? Times have changed, though, and the expectation now is that users have absolute privacy from their service provider except on a need-to-know basis, and Bloomberg is going to have their work cut out for them adapting their systems and culture.

brandnewlow 14y ago
If the mailman was also the editor of the local newspaper and was using his knowledge of your subscriptions to source stories about you, that'd be much more in line with what was going on here. The problem is that Bloomberg sells data services to tens of thousands of companies while also running a media company that sells reporting to news organizations. You can't mix those two and expect people to be happy about it.
- UVB-76 14y ago
  I may be wrong, but the impression I got from this article was not so much that Bloomberg reporters were using the data to source stories about their clients, so much as using the data to connect with their clients and use them as sources. Whereas reporters from other news organizations would have had to ring around and fight to speak to a relevant source, Bloomberg reporters had direct contact details at their fingertips, as well as information telling them exactly when they are logged in at their Bloomberg terminals.
greenyoda 14y ago
"Bloomberg LP grew up in a different era, when a client of a communication service had no expectation of privacy from the company running it." The customers might very well have had an expectation of privacy based on the contracts they signed with Bloomberg. Given that Bloomberg's customers are financial companies that have lots of proprietary information to protect, I'd be surprised if their contracts didn't contain some kind of confidentiality agreement.

by raldi 14y ago

brandnewlow 14y ago

If the mailman was also the editor of the local newspaper and was using his knowledge of your subscriptions to source stories about you, that'd be much more in line with what was going on here. The problem is that Bloomberg sells data services to tens of thousands of companies while also running a media company that sells reporting to news organizations. You can't mix those two and expect people to be happy about it.

UVB-76 14y ago
I may be wrong, but the impression I got from this article was not so much that Bloomberg reporters were using the data to source stories about their clients, so much as using the data to connect with their clients and use them as sources. Whereas reporters from other news organizations would have had to ring around and fight to speak to a relevant source, Bloomberg reporters had direct contact details at their fingertips, as well as information telling them exactly when they are logged in at their Bloomberg terminals.

greenyoda 14y ago

"Bloomberg LP grew up in a different era, when a client of a communication service had no expectation of privacy from the company running it." The customers might very well have had an expectation of privacy based on the contracts they signed with Bloomberg. Given that Bloomberg's customers are financial companies that have lots of proprietary information to protect, I'd be surprised if their contracts didn't contain some kind of confidentiality agreement.