NDAs

Wed Sep 16 16:08:49 UTC 1998

Since a thread related to nondisclosure agreements has been brought up and I
have been mulling over this topic lately, I'd like to know your opinions on
whether or not the practice of requiring NDAs will continue.  Are free
market pressures working against such a model?  Can secretive pricing really
be sustained over a long period of time?  It makes me think of when market
economies first began.  A lot of haggling took place, and buyers didn't
always know what prices others were buying at.  Some might buy the chicken
for a quart of milk, others might have to hand over a whole cow.  As the
market matured, fixed pricing became more the rule of thumb for efficiency
and expediency reasons.  Bargaining still takes place but mainly with small
"mom-and-pop" sort of shops and in more informal markets.  A haggled down
discount at Barnes & Nobles seems inconceivable.  (Of course, a customer can
haggle down a car salesman--or at least think he is--and individual car lots
might receive periodic discounts from the factories...)  An effective
marketing strategy for a competitor of WorldCom might be open pricing.  Am I
right?  Wrong?  I'd like to see pricing become open, but I don't want the
government outlawing NDAs.  Perhaps NDAs are a market experiment that won't
hold up?

Thanks,
Jennifer    

At 10:41 AM 9/16/98 -0400, you wrote:
>last i checked www.spicegirls.com wasn't on the exodus network.
>
>i think it's on netkonect.net
>
>whitehouse.com is on exodus though... ;)
>
>as per the contractual issues, all they told lowly engineers like myself
>was that we could disclose publicly the fact:
>
>1. we have reached a solution with GTEi
>2. it includes expanding ds3's with them
>3. we're not buying transit or paying for peering
>4. we're like friends and stuff now... ;)
>
>i'm sure when bowman gets up, he'll have something to say. he probably has
>a LOT more insight into #3
>
>-dhiraj
>sr. systems engineer, exodus communications
>
>
>
>On Tue, 15 Sep 1998, Adam Rothschild wrote:
>
>> > > Hmm.. not to start another massive thread here, but I wonder if this
means
>> > > that Exodus is now paying for transit and/or peering?
>> > 
>> > 	Disclosure of this information is probally violation of
>> > the agreement, so unless you work for one of them, or know
>> > someone who does, you won't find out.
>> 
>> Indeed.  Point well taken.
>> 
>> Still, I have a funny feeling that GTEI/BBN is being compensated royally
>> for this.  This would have never happened otherwise, methinks.
>> 
>> I doubt Mr. Curran is doing this simply to allow himself and his customers
>> to continue accesssing quality Exodus-hosted content, such as the Spice
>> Girls and whitehouse.com.  Then again, I could be mistaken! :-)
>> 
>> 
>
>

*****************************
After September 25, please respond to jdepalma at alumni.princeton.edu

Jennifer A. DePalma
202.789.5226
202.842.3490 (fax)

Research Analyst
Telecommunications and Technology Studies
Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001