A revelation created a collective shudder in Wall Street when reporters from Bloomberg News had obtained private information from subscribers through the company's ever present data terminals used to break news.

Bloomberg News, the journalism arm of Bloomberg LP had been for years using company terminals to monitor when subscribers log into the service to find out information from the news wire, corporate bond trades or equities indices that they browse. These terminals cost about US$20,000 a year are found in about every bank and trading company.

According to Bloomberg, the terminals would allow journalists to monitor subscriber activity but this service was promptly disabled after Goldman Sachs complained that one Bloomberg reporter, who inquired about a specific partner's status of employment as the reporter alluded that the partner had not logged into the Bloomberg service lately.

This led to more concerns about the function of Bloomberg in its terminal business and the highly competitive world of news reporting. This incident is now threatening the very credibility of each one, as the secrecy of the trade and its attendant information is guarded religiously and any misuse of viewing privileges would tip the others as to possible trades that would occur.