IP: Ransom: Customer Data

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: "the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow" <geoff () iconia com>
> To: "Dave E-mail Pamphleteer Farber" <farber () cis upenn edu>
> Subject: Ransom: Customer Data
> Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 20:47:37 -0700
> X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2377.0
> Importance: Normal
>
> Ransom: Customer Data
> By Connie Guglielmo, >By Connie Guglielmo, Inter@ctive Week
> October 9, 2000 12:14 AM ET
>
> Jules Neuringer never intended to become a martyr. But that was before
> Motorola tried to co-opt his customers. Now, the man who spent 30 years
> minding his own business selling two-way radios in Brooklyn, N.Y., finds
> himself the unofficial spokesman for a small but growing band of independent
> dealers in a catch-22 nightmare they say was crafted by one of the
> communications industry's biggest players.
>
> The catch: Independent dealers are being told they must turn over their
> proprietary customer data - the lifeblood of their business - or lose the
> right to sell Motorola's popular two-way radios. But if they give up that
> valuable information about the customers they have spent years cultivating,
> there's nothing to prevent the Schaumburg, Ill., manufacturer from using the
> Internet to cut the dealers out of the loop.
>
> "What better way to enter the e-commerce market than by pirating your
> dealers' customer lists?" Neuringer asked.
>
> Add that to the fact that the data is being merged with other personal
> databases over the objections - and even threatened lawsuits - from
> customers, and the story highlights how technology and the race to succeed
> in the new high-stakes game of e-commerce are increasingly stripping
> consumers of anonymity in a country that already offers few privacy rights.
>
> It's enough to turn Neuringer, president of Portronix Communications, into a
> privacy zealot. Make that a martyred privacy zealot, since his failure to
> comply with Motorola's so-called Impact21 dealer marketing program will cost
> him - effective Oct. 17 - his 11-year tenure as an authorized Radius
> reseller of the company's two-way radios.
>
> <<snip>>
>
> http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2637528,00.html
>
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> Geoff_Goodfellow () iconia com, Prague CZ * tel/mobil +420 (0)603 706 558
> "Success is getting what you want & happiness is wanting what you get"
> http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/01/biztech/articles/17drop.html