Podcasts Technology ISTS: Institute for Security, Technology, and Society “Are People Basically Good?" An Interweaving Story of Trust, Commerce, and Technology at the Long Tail

“Are People Basically Good?" An Interweaving Story of Trust, Commerce, and Technology at the Long Tail

Published: Nov. 12, 2009, 8 a.m.

Neel Sundaresan, Senior Director and Head, eBay Research Labs spoke on November 12, 2009 about how eBay brought buyers and sellers together with the limited tools and technologies available at its outset and helped them conduct commerce without physically meeting each other but by trusting each other with goods and money. The phenomenal growth and evolution of eBay is filled with stories of man meets machine. This talk covered the technical, economic, and social aspects of these stories from the “Long Tail” – a term that has become synonymous with eBay.