Regulators Mistakenly Leak Whole Foods Data

[NashVegas]

Source: Tennessean



The FTC also revealed how Whole Foods negotiates with suppliers to drive up costs for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Regulators also discussed the company's closely held marketing strategies.

Regulators are trying to block the deal on antitrust grounds, arguing that it would mean higher prices for organic and natural food. A judge is considering whether to block the deal temporarily.

Many of the details in the documents, which FTC lawyers filed electronically, were not meant to be released publicly, but words intended to be redacted were actually just electronically shaded black. The words could be searched, copied, pasted and read in versions downloaded from court computer servers.

Court officials realized the mistake and replaced the filing with a version using scanned pages of the redacted documents. Like covering up parts of a page with black paper before photocopying, there is no way to remove blacked-out portions from the final copy.

The Associated Press downloaded the document from the public server before it was replaced by a properly redacted version.

Read more: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070815/BUSINESS01/708150406/1436/BUSINESS

---

Two thoughts:

1. Mistakenly, my ASS. Mackey may have a nice lawsuit, here.

2. And the XM / Sirius proposed merge has the government's blessing.

[underpants]

1. Hold it REGULATION!?!??! since when do they believe in REGULATION?

Wow talk about openly using the government to shut down the business that you, for some reason, don't like.

[NashVegas]

3. I Know ... It's Unbelievable

Did you read the full article? It carries a few of the specifics. I don't know how much attention you've been paying to the story, but the FTC has previously leaked other material that most people would consider sensitive. Whole Foods was required to give the FTC the material in the first place.

[underpants]

4. I read it

Sounds like they are going some things like Walmart. Funny that Walmart would suddenly love the Sherman anti-trust act.

[Javaman]

7. You are aware that on whole foods board are ex walmart board members, right?

funny how that works.

[NashVegas]

8. Oh, Now

that's fascinating.

[underpants]

9. No I didn't know that

but I do seem to remember that the CEO/Prez of Wholefoods got caught just a few weeks ago using a "sockpuppet" on the web to either talk up Whole Foods or talk down a competitor

[NashVegas]

10. He Was Dissing Wild Oats

I thought it was pretty funny, if juvenile. What CEO wouldn't have a great time doing that?

And again, that was information the FTC revealed from info they received from WO are part of the merger process.

[wordpix]

12. kind of like Citi dissing MetLife, Prudential et al about bad mortgage loans/losses

while Citi's been involved in same and could lose billions on these deals. :puke:
Like high school kids dissing each other. :crazy:

[InkAddict]

15. Wow, there's the covert high-price one pays for shopping

at no-quality Wally World, and then there's the in-your-face high prices one pays for carefully choosing some prime(?) goodies at Whole Paycheck (I mean, Whole Foods)! Ahhh...I love the smell of grillin' in the morning! Today's menu features: organic prepared shish-ka-bobs (competitors and consumers scewered to perfection). Tomorrow's menu: make-at-home global gourmet one-bean and rice in very sticky brown sauce.

[crikkett]

11. ...when it helps Wal-Mart, apparently.

[Supersedeas]

14. when regulation is designed to increase market share for a Party Cronie--then Regulate

[fasttense]

2. Free trade is no longer free when monopolies take over. n/t

[NJCher]

5. looks like that's exactly what they're doing

But then, that is no surprise to me. Over the last couple decades, I've worked here and there for some huge corporations and I have seen the price-fixing first hand. For example, suppliers don't set their price. A corporation for whom I consulted hauled the suppliers in for price meetings and told them what they could charge. This particular situation took place in the automotive parts industry.

On another subject, but from the article, I found this interesting:

Education is key to the site selection for a new Whole Foods store. "As a company, we look at college graduate density. That's one of the single most important things," the government quoted a company official as saying.



Cher

[NashVegas]

6. Oh Yes, It Is Interesting

And it's exactly the kind of thing that may give WF a valid lawsuit, for revealing. If anyone else did it, we'd call it corporate espionage.

The store that WO bought out - and then closed to open a supermarket in a much higher income area - was located just blocks from a college campus. Perhaps that's an example of why they're the weaker of the two chains.

[stubtoe]

13. There's a reason we call it "Whole Wallet"

I'll never go THERE again.

[Trillo]

16. Psyops -- Another aspect.

There's a movement for government to disclose. Has been for a long time.

This feeds the argument that some things shouldn't be disclosed. It is part and parcel of the surveillance state.

What I find telling is the claims that this is 'secret' or "closely held" data that the government just happens to have. If it was truly 'closely held', the government (FTC -- Executive Branch) wouldn't have it.

It feels like Psyops to me.