Motorola's invasion of privacy.
October 10, 2000 1:39 AM Subscribe
Motorola's invasion of privacy. Taken from Slashdot.
This isn't news for nerds. This isn't stuff that matters.
posted by holloway at 3:55 AM on October 10, 2000
posted by holloway at 3:55 AM on October 10, 2000
Yeah, and I can think of two companies that do the same thing.
Xerox and Oce (copier companies).
posted by ethmar at 6:24 AM on October 10, 2000
Xerox and Oce (copier companies).
posted by ethmar at 6:24 AM on October 10, 2000
This is an important trend to watch. Other manifestations include the webergrill.com guy. Who owns the customers? Who owns the trademark? The franchisees used to be the only way that the manufacturer could reach the hinterlands. Now they have a home page and one-click ordering.
Just like the issue of internet sales taxes taking away an important source of revenue for municipalities, or Amazon and BN.com undercutting independent booksellers, this is just one broken branch on the trail to the new economy.
posted by dhartung at 7:05 AM on October 10, 2000
Just like the issue of internet sales taxes taking away an important source of revenue for municipalities, or Amazon and BN.com undercutting independent booksellers, this is just one broken branch on the trail to the new economy.
posted by dhartung at 7:05 AM on October 10, 2000
Depends what flavor of nerd you are. I never wanted to have to say "they're morons" about *Moto*, but I guess I will.
Forwarded to Lauren's Privacy Digest; thanks, Hobbes.
posted by baylink at 7:31 AM on October 10, 2000
Forwarded to Lauren's Privacy Digest; thanks, Hobbes.
posted by baylink at 7:31 AM on October 10, 2000
>Yeah, and I can think of two companies that do the same thing
tweeet Upon further review, Motorola is playing the dirtiest pool of all, 10 yard penalty, repeat third down.
My experience with Oce has been that their sales reps got leads concerning companies in need of high-speed copiers, and happened to call on them at the same time the sales rep from our company did. Kinda hard to sell a copier to a company as a middleman to the manufacturer selling/leasing direct!
But to my knowledge, Oce never "made" anyone turn over their customer list. Horrible.
posted by ethmar at 7:48 AM on October 10, 2000
tweeet Upon further review, Motorola is playing the dirtiest pool of all, 10 yard penalty, repeat third down.
My experience with Oce has been that their sales reps got leads concerning companies in need of high-speed copiers, and happened to call on them at the same time the sales rep from our company did. Kinda hard to sell a copier to a company as a middleman to the manufacturer selling/leasing direct!
But to my knowledge, Oce never "made" anyone turn over their customer list. Horrible.
posted by ethmar at 7:48 AM on October 10, 2000
Isn't the whole point of the "internet commerce" boom that manufacturers can sell directly to customers, cutting out the middlemen? Isn't this sort of thing the reason for those outrageous stock prices and absurdly hyped IPOs?
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:49 AM on October 10, 2000
-Mars
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:49 AM on October 10, 2000
Instead it appears that the internet is making more room for middlemen. Why go to each and every book publisher's website when you can just go to Amazon? Now for certain types of product skipping the middleman seems to be working out ok (Dell, Apple) but most internet consumers want convienience.
posted by captaincursor at 11:52 AM on October 10, 2000
posted by captaincursor at 11:52 AM on October 10, 2000
True, but books are a little different from other things. They're not branded by manufacturer, for example, but by author or genre.
Grills, computers, that sort of thing -- computer middlemen ARE hurting as people just go to Dell or Compaq's direct sales pages.
posted by dhartung at 2:49 PM on October 10, 2000
Grills, computers, that sort of thing -- computer middlemen ARE hurting as people just go to Dell or Compaq's direct sales pages.
posted by dhartung at 2:49 PM on October 10, 2000
Why would i want to go through a middleman when i can get the product direct from the manufacturer. Middlemen just push the price up and serve no real purpose.
posted by Zool at 7:55 PM on October 10, 2000
posted by Zool at 7:55 PM on October 10, 2000
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posted by hobbes at 1:40 AM on October 10, 2000