Opening Cross: A Misplaced Sense of Entitlement?

In this case, the vendor—who shall remain nameless because of their prompt and responsible action once we alerted them—used one of our stories about them as a press release, reprinting our text verbatim. When journalists willfully do this with other people’s stories, it’s called plagiarism. When data providers deliberately do this with other vendors’ content, it’s called piracy—and certain regions in the world are littered with instances of one company’s premium content mysteriously appearing on another vendor’s screen at a fraction of the price, where someone has craftily tapped into a legitimate feed and siphoned off data to an illegitimate end-point, which then re-sells the data it obtained for free at a premium. Like if your local pub tapped into the cable TV from the guy next door who pays for all the expensive sports packages, then charged customers an entry fee to watch events on its pirate cable.
In this instance, the vendor professed not to be aware of the restrictions, and quickly made good by removing the article and replacing it with a link to the story on our website, which is something we encourage, since (a) it doesn’t cannibalize our content, and (b) it drives potential subscribers to our sites, where they can see the array of content on offer. (A quick plug for our sales team: if you’re featured in any of our publications and want a copy of the story for your wall display, your website, for a mailshot, or even to send to your mother, we offer custom PDF reprints—for a fee, of course).
However, in an industry that deals with content licensing every day—and where the consequences of non-compliance can prove very costly, such as in the cases of exchange audits and retroactive penalty fees (which we don’t charge, though we do cancel subscriptions of persistent offenders)—it staggers me how many people are either simply unaware of basic, standard principles around re-using data, or are perhaps willfully ignorant of them. A former CEO of a data vendor once admitted flagrantly re-using our content without permission, and justified it by saying that because he was so important and well-known, it would actually benefit us to have his validation of our stories.
True, many—possibly the majority of—instances of misuse are innocent misunderstandings, perhaps because it’s so common in this day and age to be able to access content for free, and to be able to share it through multiple channels, such as social media. And that’s why data sources utilize sophisticated entitlements processes to permission users and monitor usage. For example, the recent integration of Alliance News’ content into MetaQuotes’ trading platforms doesn’t mean all MetaQuotes clients automatically get Alliance’s news feed—first, they must go through a permissioning process. And meanwhile, under the Japan Exchange’s new data policy, client firms may be charged additional fees if they access its data via providers that don’t have strict controls in place to ensure proper usage and reporting. End-user firms often feel like exchanges are just looking for ways to catch them out and charge penalties, but in my experience, those exchanges would rather collect the correct fees today than miss out and charge penalties later.
To wrap up my rant, let me give some props to our friends at Platts, where one staffer recently politely requested that I send them the text of a story for their records because—while their colleague had a valid subscription to IMD, the individual in question didn’t want to break the terms of that license by asking their colleague to share their login details. So thanks, Platts, for understanding and respecting entitlements, rather than just acting entitled.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: https://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Data Management
EDM Council expands reach with Object Management Group merger
The rebranded EDM Council now includes members from industries outside financial services.
As datacenter cooling issues rise, FPGAs could help
IMD Wrap: As temperatures are spiking, so too is demand for capacity related to AI applications. Max says FPGAs could help to ease the burden being forced on datacenters.
Bloomberg introduces geopolitical country-of-risk scores to terminal
Through a new partnership with Seerist, terminal users can now access risk data on seven million companies and 245 countries.
A network of Cusip workarounds keeps the retirement industry humming
Restrictive data licenses—the subject of an ongoing antitrust case against Cusip Global Services—are felt keenly in the retirement space, where an amalgam of identifiers meant to ensure licensing compliance create headaches for investment advisers and investors.
LLMs are making alternative datasets ‘fuzzy’
Waters Wrap: While large language models and generative/agentic AI offer an endless amount of opportunity, they are also exposing unforeseen risks and challenges.
Cloud offers promise for execs struggling with legacy tech
Tech execs from the buy side and vendor world are still grappling with how to handle legacy technology and where the cloud should step in.
Bloomberg expands user access to new AI document search tool
An evolution of previous AI-enabled features, the new capability allows users to search terminal content as well as their firm’s proprietary content by asking natural language questions.
CDOs must deliver short-term wins ‘that people give a crap about’
The IMD Wrap: Why bother having a CDO when so many firms replace them so often? Some say CDOs should stop focusing on perfection, and focus instead on immediate deliverables that demonstrate value to the broader business.