Eight Of America's Most Secretive Companies: 24/7 Wall Street

24/7 Wall St.:

The need for secrecy in business has led to a shadow industry known as industrial espionage. The practices of "spying" used to be physical. A spy would have to be near the product to describe or photograph it. Electronic surveillance replaced this in the second half of the 20th century and "bugs," wire taps, and digital theft of documents became more popular.

Today, espionage is incredibly sophisticated. Chinese code hackers broke into Google servers at the end of last year. The ability of marketers to collect online data from people using the Internet has become highly sophisticated. Privacy today is often a matter of blocking systems that are complex enough to break though encryption walls. The wars between hacker and protector of digital data has become progressively more sophisticated. Obviously, the federal government has developed encryption to protect its information.

Read the whole story: 24/7 Wall St.

Comments

[BannedNBoston]

01:06 PM on 08/29/2010

Put an aspirin in Coca-Cola and you will get a buzz!

Genetic Modified Foods - Senate Bill S510
http://batr.org/gulag/082210.html
http://yupfarming.blogspot.com/2010/06/farm-animals-r-us.html
http://www.ellinghuysen.com/news/articles/105625.shtml

[deepintheheartoftejas]

12:30 PM on 08/29/2010

I bet the really most secretive companies are the ones you have no idea that they exist.

[ebanks84]

01:17 PM on 08/29/2010

Thank you.

[Js420]

10:58 AM on 08/29/2010

Probably no other company as much as Coke has exploited this "right" Their product has no nutritional value & helps people who easily put on weight, get fat, along with other health issues.

[KarolinaReiss]

10:42 AM on 08/29/2010

I don't care what they put in that sweet brew, but it totally fixed my belly aches a few days ago. The FDA should classify it as a medication and Coca-cola can then charge a premium. That's America, baby!

[dutchess2]

10:31 AM on 08/29/2010

The head of Coke Cola was among those bashing President Obama recently.

Thinking democrats and blacks ought to boycott them.

I am... and I am a registered republican... Corporations got no business attacking Presidents.
They got a beef, they can pick up the phone...

[ebanks84]

01:22 PM on 08/29/2010

Amen. Fanned. The republicans have spoiled American corporations by allowing them to rule their own entities without restrictions. That's why they are returning to their "little boys" syndrome and complaining about every little ache and pain the president is giving them. Too bad, too sad is all I have to say.

[BasketWeaver]

03:15 PM on 08/29/2010

Yes. If there's something we want to be doing in this economy, it's ignoring the advice of the companies that actually employ people.

[Patricia C Mulkey]

09:54 AM on 08/29/2010

Gosh I didn't see the Keebler elves or Bush's Baked Beans listed here! Well, DUH. Of course companies hide their secrets. As they vie for a foothold in a competitive market, they must have an edge that keeps them in the game. The headline implies incorrectly they are doing something evil.

[Js420]

11:09 AM on 08/29/2010

Junk food is the backbone of the American economy & to disclose information would discourage people from eating the garbage they are pushing on obese cashstrapped Americans

[skybar]

09:40 AM on 08/29/2010

Why is Coca-Cola secretive? Afraid someone will steal the recipe for caramel-flavored carbonated sugar water? (Oops! I gave the secret away!)

[ebanks84]

01:23 PM on 08/29/2010

Because if people find out what's really in that crap, they would probably be sued to high heaven and lose everything. Their diet products are ki.llers because they contain Aspartame which IS a ki.ller.

[Saran Kozer]

06:25 AM on 08/29/2010

Thanks for sharing this formation. Valuable.

funny post! enjoyed reading it…

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[Josh Sezer]

05:35 AM on 08/29/2010

Why was this under the Blackwater category?

[skyslimit]

11:34 PM on 08/28/2010



[GeoNorth]

10:05 PM on 08/28/2010

Does Macy's tell Gimbel's?

[Nichole Boultas]

01:28 AM on 08/29/2010

What's gimbel's? Sorry I was born in 1971 so I'd never heard of them.

[Veganie]

10:00 PM on 08/28/2010

Coke is over priced liquid candy.

[FZliveson]

09:09 PM on 08/28/2010

Things don't have to be kept secret to be successful.
Read about the FED ( http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6507136891691870450#)
and the banking system ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ualKVFhScBM )
and see what's there before our very eyes but huge masses of people fail to see.

As far as Coke Cola and Apple are concerned, their secrecy is not nearly as intimidating as Monsanto and Xi; but different people are moved by different things, dangerous or competitive.

[editor]

08:31 PM on 08/28/2010

What kind of research goes into carbonated sugar water in a red can?

[Zeebob]

08:11 PM on 08/28/2010

The only company in the US allowed to use coca leaves is Coca-Cola!

So its not just the sugar and the caffeine that's addicting..

[3daywkend]

08:45 PM on 08/28/2010

I'm pretty sure they removed the coca eons ago.

[kyvette68]

09:04 PM on 08/28/2010

At the turn of the last century. This rumor has been dispelled numerous times but still persists.

[coweatyou]

12:45 AM on 08/29/2010

While we can't really know if they use it or not, to this day they still hold a DEA license for purification of coca leaf. Even if they do use coca, they use coca extract, so you don't actually get any cocaine.

[ladyvader]

12:29 AM on 08/29/2010

Don't you mean corn syrup not sugar. I just look at the ingredients on the can of Coke I am drinking and sugar isn't listed.

[olivia]

01:44 AM on 08/29/2010

Mexican coke tastes better because there is sugar in there, not corn syrup.