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shame isn't the only thing. If everyone knows you deal with trading rare comic books between America and Japan, with no listed prices but a comission between private transactions which you intermediate, have no employees and do it all via a couple of low-key websites, then it is no big deal. They might assume you do a few per year or per month, but that it is hardly some huge market.

If, however, the world learns that you made $37.2 million last year doing this, then this signal might be enough for your income to drop to $0 and for you never to make another penny again.

(For example because it invites a transparent competitor who does list prices and who you can't or don't want to deal with; or invited eBay, who actually loses money entering this market with a huge splash. Or invited Christie's, the auctiom house, who had not been tracking this part of the market. etc etc.)

In capitalist countries salaries can be clear signals for turnover, which could otherwise be private.



Then, I don't know, don't give it to yourself in that way but rather re-invest in your company if it really is your turnover? Those poor business owners who are making so much money that they're attracting competition can't afford accountants?


that's not a general solution. firms with employees can also have trouble hiding the size of their divisions if everyone's salary is pubic.

this really is pretty key competitive information.


Then make the search for each individual a separate query and put a processing fee on it. That would make such a lookup scale very poorly.


why is it in the public interest to make the search possible at all?


> If, however, the world learns that you made $37.2 million last year doing this, then this signal might be enough for your income to drop to $0 and for you never to make another penny again.

Which would be a win for the consumer. Information is supposed to do this to markets.




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