[consulting] List Mom Policies

[JasonN]

> I even live in the US and have taken classes in US corporate law and
> I'm amazed that it applies to mailing lists.

It's not illegal to get together and talk about pricing.  It's not
even illegal to get together and come to a conclusion regarding a
universal acceptable pricing scheme.  People in all sorts of
businesses do this all the time.  It's called "talking."  Talking is
NOT illegal, not even in modern America.

It is illegal to forge a coalition of "collusion" to gouge people, by
way of market monopoly.  In order to be guilty of this you must:

1) Intentionally form a group colluding to manipulate the price in given market.
2) Forge a real market oligopoly.

A hand full of consultants talking about fair market values for their
services shall not constitute market manipulation or collusion.

Avoiding financial discussions to avoid prosecution for antitrust
violations may be paranoid.

Avoiding discussions about your business expenses because you don't
want your inner business processes revealed is a very different, some
may consider wise reason to avoid such conversations.

I think such conversations often help mature a marketplace.  You
aren't violating antitrust laws when you share information.  If you
aren't getting together with binding arrangements to rip off the
public, then you aren't acting criminally.


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Jason A. Nunnelley
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http://www.jasonn.com/