Bloomberg Accused Of Terminal Spying For News Leads

[webfact]

Bloomberg accused of terminal spying for news leads

NEW YORK: -- The multinational financial mass media corporation Bloomberg has been accused of spying on some of its 315,000 customers that use the market-data terminals, sparking outrage among, most notably, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase who said Bloomberg violated their privacy.

On Friday, the New York Post reported Goldman Sachs to be first to have complained to Bloomberg about spying by its reporters. The financial news giant said it addressed the complaint within 24 hours by urgently closing some of the windows its reporters had allegedly used to check up on customers' activities to find potential stories.

Some of Bloomberg’s interviewed employees confessed they feared for the company’s reputation. “You never want to show up in the paper for something like this,” one of them was cited as telling the Huffington Post.

According to the media, Bloomberg News reporters tracked how often customers had logged onto terminals and how many times a month they had entered specific commands on a terminal, for instance to check information about foreign currencies or pull up economic indicators.

With these tools, Bloomberg could keep loose tabs on terminal users, including government officials and high-profile investors and traders, to get leads to news scoops, the company’s ultimate goal.

Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market, with estimated revenue of $7.6 billion, as of 2011.

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_05_13/Bloomberg-accused-of-terminal-spying-for-news-leads-501/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-05-13

[laislica]

Well, there's a surprise. NOT!

Will this be the Rise and Fall of Bloomberg?

[TheGhostWithin]

A bit of a revelation. I was in the process of initiating a relationship with Bloomberg. Though I am a small-time user, it makes me wonder if this could be used to provide advanced data to major banks (e.g. Goldman Sachs) to bet against us and profit as they have so many times in the past.

Although their services may benefit me greatly, how they use data which is created through my usage is not. Appears Bloomberg has something to answer for.

[tolsti]

A bit of a revelation. I was in the process of initiating a relationship with Bloomberg. Though I am a small-time user, it makes me wonder if this could be used to provide advanced data to major banks (e.g. Goldman Sachs) to bet against us and profit as they have so many times in the past.

Although their services may benefit me greatly, how they use data which is created through my usage is not. Appears Bloomberg has something to answer for.

I do hope that you are not relying on the Thaivisa muppets for your up to date financial information!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/11/us-bloomberg-data-idUSBRE94A0BF20130511

[DRONGOH]

Well, there's a surprise. NOT!

Will this be the Rise and Fall of Bloomberg?

You need a head scan but not at the Mt Sinai hospital because it's same same. Zionism. Bear with me?

[Cuban]

Bloomberg has made several fortunes by having a spy on every trader's desk - me thinks the cat is now out of the bag of Pork Futures.

Knowing the user's name, the charts and instruments they are looking at is a data miners wet dream.

[Joe Mamma]

A bit of a revelation. I was in the process of initiating a relationship with Bloomberg. Though I am a small-time user, it makes me wonder if this could be used to provide advanced data to major banks (e.g. Goldman Sachs) to bet against us and profit as they have so many times in the past.

Although their services may benefit me greatly, how they use data which is created through my usage is not. Appears Bloomberg has something to answer for.

Yes, the elite 2% who are privy to all the financial disasters before they happen. And the rest of us who actually finance the country are left to die.

[Joe Mamma]

Hmmmm, if we can spy on the good ole folks, we can also foretell their plight to them and get paid, all the while we help bring their demise.

[sonar6ca]

You need a head scan but not at the Mt Sinai hospital because it's same same. Zionism. Bear with me?

Wow! It seems that you know plenty about finance, health care and Zionism, what a talent.

[techboy]

The heck with Bloomberg. I'm still in love with Maria Bartiromo.

Edited May 14, 2013 by techboy

[belg]

like they don't all do it

use or tools, pay good money for it and we as the first can see the trends and maybe do some inside trading ...

financial world like wall street, tell yourself, they corrupt or bankrupt companies...

they do not create anything but a quick profit for themselves or downfall of the worth of a company ...

[laislica]

Makes ya wonder if say, 20 odd years ago, they might have reverse engineered the protocol of one (or more) of the data feeds that they were trying to compete with and tapped a parallel connection?

Then again, if one (or more) of the companies who's data was being nicked, knew about it, they might have been so arrogant as to consider Bloomberg nothing more than a flea on the ass of an elephant.

Makes ya wonder if any previous major player got taken over in say the last 6 odd years eh?

[techboy]

There must be a Thai police corruption / tea money angle here somewhere

[jbrain]

Probably it's just me but, I can't see what is wrong from a company keeping records about the behaviour of their clients accessing the information they make available to them.

I'm sure Thaivisa keeps track how many times I login a day and which commands I enter into the search box. Should I take them to court?

Better take a look at who the accusations come from. They are one of the biggest criminals on this planet regarding collecting, and providing, unlawful information to benefit their own.

[Cuban]

Probably it's just me but, I can't see what is wrong from a company

keeping records about the behaviour of their clients accessing the

information they make available to them.

It is just you, it is levels of magnitude more serious than TV noting your login times and the threads that you view to use when compiling targeted advertising (something that Google does if you use any of their services).

With Bloomberg they provide a data terminal (software data feed these days) and can with ease monitor what financial stocks, currencies that you monitor and what analysis that you apply to charts of such prices. In effect it is not very hard for someone with access to BB's backend data to effectively stand behind you and know your trading plans or who your counter parties my be if dealing direct vs using a broker, for you will be looking at their pages on BB as well.

When a senior trader at a particular bank is spending time looking at a company in the weeks leading up to a X-Div date etc there will be the implied knowledge that something is happening to that company that is of interest and so worth putting reporters on the story.

IMHO this is a serious breach of trust for a market data provider that is a news creator/reporter too.

It is I suggest equivalent to insider trading, how do you feel about pitting your trading skills against counter parties that know the future market already - candy from a baby 'cos you are playing blind compared to them.

Putting it is more direct terms, if your ISP monitored every web-site you visited and what you searched for then used that data not just to offer related adverts but to place news reporters at places you were about to visit because they saw you had looked up symptoms of a particular disease then checked the address/opening hours of a doctors surgery, would you consider that invasive and a breach of privileged information?

[laislica]

Probably it's just me but, I can't see what is wrong from a company

keeping records about the behaviour of their clients accessing the

information they make available to them.

It is just you, it is levels of magnitude more serious than TV noting your login times and the threads that you view to use when compiling targeted advertising (something that Google does if you use any of their services).

With Bloomberg they provide a data terminal (software data feed these days) and can with ease monitor what financial stocks, currencies that you monitor and what analysis that you apply to charts of such prices. In effect it is not very hard for someone with access to BB's backend data to effectively stand behind you and know your trading plans or who your counter parties my be if dealing direct vs using a broker, for you will be looking at their pages on BB as well.

When a senior trader at a particular bank is spending time looking at a company in the weeks leading up to a X-Div date etc there will be the implied knowledge that something is happening to that company that is of interest and so worth putting reporters on the story.

IMHO this is a serious breach of trust for a market data provider that is a news creator/reporter too.

It is I suggest equivalent to insider trading, how do you feel about pitting your trading skills against counter parties that know the future market already - candy from a baby 'cos you are playing blind compared to them.

Putting it is more direct terms, if your ISP monitored every web-site you visited and what you searched for then used that data not just to offer related adverts but to place news reporters at places you were about to visit because they saw you had looked up symptoms of a particular disease then checked the address/opening hours of a doctors surgery, would you consider that invasive and a breach of privileged information?

How true.

Better yet, what if, having watched your activity and seen that you had found a "Bargain" out there, the sold that info as "Research Data" to others who jumped in quick and stole the Bargain from you.

I'm not suggesting that they even think of such a thing........

Just saying.... but I do remember when Bloomberg was in the early stages of growing the business, ethics was not a term they used. Anything for a profit, like so many others in this world.

I do think it strange though, we are the only species that PAY to live on this planet!

Maybe a thought for another thread? Will Man's greed finally be the demise of the human race?

Revenge, no I'm too lazy, I'll just sit back here and watch Karma do it's thing.....