Tupalo.com, the Vienna-based service for what’s cool around your neighborhood, yesterday announced a partnership with Herold, the Austrian service for business listings.
It’s a great move for the little company and I’m really happy for them.
And while I don’t believe in things like good and evil, I do have a bit of a queasy feeling when it comes to Herold. Not so long ago, they were getting a thorough beating when they announced the availability of a CD-ROM that contained the data of more than 4 million private people. While it’s legal, people were and still are up in arms about it. Which I totally understand.
Now, while I do believe Mike from Tupalo when he announces on their blog that they “will still continue as the lightweight, independent company we’ve always been”, I wonder whether people will still feel the same way, now that a company with such a backstory is part of the game.
I’m convinced that from a business perspective, the partnership between Tupalo and Herold was one of the best things that could have happened to them. Whether it’ll put off users concerned about their private data and how it’ll be treated, remains to be seen.
hmmm. http://twitter.com/linzerschnitte/status/2001711716
legitimate concern.
Seen that yesterday. You seemed to be the only one to voice that concern. Hmm.
Hey Richard, thanks again for your kind words regarding Tupalo.com.
I understand yours and Linzerschnitte’s concerns and I can assure you that while HEROLD is a strategic partner and investor in Tupalo.com, the Tupalo.com user data relationship remains between Tupalo.com and it’s users.
And to reassure you, we absolutely are not selling, feeding, delivering or exposing user’s names, identifiable information or any contact information to HEROLD in anyway shape or form.
Through our partnership, Tupalo.com will have access to the HEROLD business data (business names, business addresses, business phone numbers and business URLs), however we are not using in anyway or even thinking of their white pages data (personal names, addresses, telephone numbers) which you refer to in your post.
Again, Tupalo.com remains an independent company, managed by it’s two original founders, myself and Clemens, and we remain dedicated to our users and providing them with a kick-ass social yellow pages service.
As always, you can always contact me if you have questions or concerns (you have my email and phone number).
Mike, thanks a lot for your comment. I’m glad you’ve spelled it out that clearly.
No thank you for asking the question and I’m happy to answer this and whatever other questions you may have to the best of my abilities.
PS. I still owe you a bottle of vermouth from the Tupalo.com gathering in MQ
Indeed the same thought came to my mind – glad about the explanation & I’m happy that Tupalo got some fresh funding, too.