News.com.au, by Jane Lee, December 16, 2010
- Aussie retailer launches Tradeleaks.com
- Users post anonymous tips about dodgy firms
- Information on website is unreliable, says critic
AN AUSTRALIAN online electronics retailer has launched what he calls the business world's answer to WikiLeaks.
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| The site allows internet users to post documents and tip-offs about dodgy business practices anonymously / File |
The site, Tradeleaks.com, allows internet users to post documents and tip-offs about dodgy business practices anonymously. Users can then rate and comment on the reliability of each leak.
Twenty-eight year old Ruslan Kogan, who featured on this year's BRW Young Rich list with a wealth of $29 million, made Tradeleaks.com available this morning.
A few hours after the website went live, there were ten allegations posted on the site about a mix of businesses and retailers.
'Fan' alleged that Foxtel* has an internal policy to offer one month’s free service to customers calling to "disconnect" their cable TV subscription.
Anonymous claimed that in his or her experience working at a "big TV retailer", he or she will: "play with the color (sic) settings on the TVs to ensure that the TVs that will earn us the most commission look better than the others."
"MY ADVICE TO CONSUMERS: If you are ever in a store buying a TV, ensure that you set all the color settings to "Factory Default" when comparing," said the post.
Mr Kogan said he hoped the site would eventually be filled with trade secrets and eventually become "bigger than WikiLeaks."
Mr Kogan denied that the website is an attempt to grab publicity for himself and his other businesses: "Someone could go on and post something [negative] about Kogan or my other business interests - we’re going to be judged on our transparency too… if it was [a publicity stunt] we’d put the Kogan logo on it."
"It's going to create a better shopping environment for consumers," Mr Kogan said.
"What this does is put all of the [internet’s business rumours and tip-offs] in one place; you're giving people one central place to say: 'I've worked here and here and they made me do this behind closed doors'," he said.
Mr Kogan said users can "post a leak" on the site directly in a system that will regulate itself, amid critics' warnings that there is no guarantee the information posted on the site is true or that its users’ personal details will be protected.
The site, which does not require a user name or evidence to back up claims, asks only that people "post credible information, including source documents where possible, which they believe consumers need to know."
"We put the power in the consumers’ hands, we let people decide what’s relevant and what’s not, whether they believe it or not..." he said.
"We’re not policing it and will only remove posts if they’re defamatory…you can post anything you want."
Asked what sort of security the site provided tipsters, Mr Kogan replied: “We’ve got legal firms and teams and we won't put up with personal attacks on anyone.
"We're encouraging people to provide evidence about claims - whatever they have we encourage them to upload it."
'This is no WikiLeaks'
Paul Ducklin, the head of technology for technical support firm Sophos' Asia-Pacific region, said that the website is no different to millions of existing internet forums that expose businesses to the risk of being slandered and their users to the risk of being identified.
"It is possible in all of this that innocent people could get slandered or libelled," Mr Ducklin said.
He contrasted Tradeleaks with WikiLeaks, which has a team of experts that decide when and whether to publish confidential information it has obtained.
"You have absolutely no idea who’s behind [the information on Tradeleaks], no indication of what’s going up and what’s not, there is no privacy policy," said Mr Ducklin.
"There's almost an anti-guarantee that people can post anything and we’ll publish it.
"[It's almost as if they are saying:] 'We don’t care what it is, we just ask you not to put naughty stuff up and it's up to others to remove it.'"
*Foxtel is owned by News Corporation, which is the parent company of the publisher of news.com.au.
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