Re: [projectvrm] R3 and TradeIX develop open account trade finance DLT business network – R3

[Doc Searls < >]

Pivoting off the quotes below, I published this blog post 
<http://blogs.harvard.edu/vrm/2017/10/06/how-should-customers-look-to-business/>,
 also promoting VRM Day and IIW. 

Let’s all do that too. 

Thanks,

Doc

> On Oct 6, 2017, at 10:05 AM, Doc Searls 
> <
 >
>  wrote:
> 
> Thanks, John. Good one. I’ll put the link up here:
> 
>> <https://www.r3.com/blog/2017/09/26/r3-and-tradeix-develop-open-account-trade-finance-dlt-business-network/>
> 
> 
> Scroll down...
> 
>> On Oct 6, 2017, at 9:14 AM, John Wunderlich 
>> <
 >
>>  wrote:
>> 
>> Buzzword bingo alert:
>> 
>> "The initial development phase involves creating standard trade finance 
>> smart contracts on a distributed ledger infrastructure. This provides 
>> secure and automated financing of supply chain using a single record for 
>> critical trade data including identities, purchase orders, invoices, 
>> shipping and logistics information, trade assets, financing activity, 
>> credit risk, and more. Following this phase, R3 and TradeIX will engage 
>> the broader ecosystem, expanding services and onboarding additional 
>> members.”
> 
> Another pull quote:
> 
> "The business network will also improve access to open account trade for 
> the global ecosystem of banks, buyers, suppliers, technology providers, 
> insurers, and other parties, such as logistics companies, that are critical 
> to facilitating global open account trade flows.”
> 
> What about customers—the people who entrust their money and assets to all 
> those other parties?
> 
>> I note the inclusion of 'identities' in this announcement. This opens up 
>> both a VRMy vision of user-initiated transactions that a user could track 
>> through the supply chain for validating preferences, be they fair trade, 
>> country avoidance, lowest cost etc.
> 
> This is a great opportunity, and thanks for bringing it up. I hope some of 
> us will visit and work on that on VRM Day and at IIW.
> 
> <http://vrmday2017b.eventbrite.com>
> <https://iiw25.eventbrite.com/>
> 
>> That's if the supply chain places the user/customer at the centre. i.e. 
>> Not likely when implemented by banks and trade organizations. A more 
>> likely scenario is user tracking, targetting, exploitation, and 
>> surveillance.
> 
> Exactly. That’s the default here in the U.S. and there is plenty of 
> overhang in the EU, even with the GDPR looming.
> 
>> This will be the case even if the end user has full visibility of their 
>> order. Unless and until the power imbalance created by centralized pools 
>> of capital and individual customers, even self-sovereign identities can be 
>> subjected to this kind of exploitation.
> 
> Exactly, again. 
> 
> Our job is to equip customers (not just “consumers,” or “end users”) to say 
> “We’re not just at the same table with you guys. We *are* that table. And 
> we are much bigger and far more powerful than you can ever make us 
> separately and on your own."
> 
> There are enough people already arguing that more policy is the answer. Or 
> that we need a new Google or Facebook to fight the incumbents. And we have 
> the policy we need for leverage, in the GDPR. Let’s use that leverage to 
> point to our own customer-empowering solutions, in some cases to exactly 
> the kind of bad acting that arises out of the mentality we see in this 
> piece.
> 
> Doc