Chris Taggart, co-founder and CEO of OpenCorporates,at Personal Democracy Forum, Jun 2013, on corporate networks and hierarchies, including OpenCorporates' new features and examples using Facebook's corporate network

1. the crazy, complex world
of corporate networks

2. ...but much of it is invisible to us
(citizens, journalists, NGOs, regulators,
governments, SMEs, etc...)
We live in a corporate
world

3. But what is a company?

4. But what is a company?
It’s no longer this

5. But what is a company?
or this
It’s no longer this

7. but
this

9. or
this

10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810
And complexity is good if
you want to avoid detection

11. “Out of 150
large-scale
corruption
cases the
majority used
companies to
hide the
money trail”

12. “Out of 150
large-scale
corruption
cases the
majority used
companies to
hide the
money trail”
Because the corporate world is
fertile ground for criminal activity

13. http://www.flickr.com/photos/propagandatimes/5242113537
Complexity and opacity
also provide incentives
for bad behaviour

14. That’s why we started
OpenCorporates
Goal: An openly licensed database with an
entry for every company in the world

15. To demolish information
silos on companies

17. From 3 million to over 50 million
companies in just 2 years

19. URI is based on the company
register ID, meaning it’s open
and IP-free

20. URI is based on the company
register ID, meaning it’s open
and IP-free

21. URI is based on the company
register ID, meaning it’s open
and IP-free
Also importing public data –
trademarks, government
spending, official registers &
gazette notices...

22. All Openly Licensed,
allowing free reuse,
even commercially

23. ... and the directors too

24. ... and the directors too
similarly named
other resources
Now over 55 million officers
From the UK to US to India

26. • Thousands of user-contributed data
• Over 800 registered users of the API

28. Platform enables the outside world to come
up with cool insights/uses for your data

29. And now we’re tackling
corporate structures...

30. And now we’re tackling
corporate structures...
Enabled by a grant from the
Alfred P Sloan Foundation

31. ...from dispersed public
sources + the crowd

32. ...from dispersed public
sources + the crowd

33. ...from dispersed public
sources + the crowd

34. ...from dispersed public
sources + the crowd

35. ...from dispersed public
sources + the crowd

37. findingnew
insights

39. ...and
errorstoo
no such
company

40. What a modern financial
company looks like(highly simplified &
truncated views)

41. What a modern financial
company looks like(highly simplified &
truncated views)

42. What a modern financial
company looks like(highly simplified &
truncated views)

43. What a modern financial
company looks like(highly simplified &
truncated views)
private
unlimited
company

44. Another
example
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fbouly/3568409530/sizes/l/

45. The company that wants to
know your network... every
friend... every interaction
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffmcneill/5260815552/sizes/l/

46. This is what we got from
their SEC filings as data
Facebook, Inc

47. Facebook, Inc
This is what we got from
their SEC filings as text

48. Facebook, Inc
(and turned into data)
This is what we got from
their SEC filings as text

49. Facebook, Inc
Pinnacle Sweden AB
Vitesse LLC
Facebook Operations LLC
Facebook Ireland Limited
Edge Network Services Limited
Andale Acquisition Corp
(and turned into data)
This is what we got from
their SEC filings as text

50. Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited
Edge Network Services Limited
Pinnacle Sweden AB
Vitesse LLC
Facebook Operations LLC
Andale Acquisition Corp
Then we started investigating

51. Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited
Edge Network Services Limited
Pinnacle Sweden AB
Vitesse LLC
Facebook Operations LLC
Andale Acquisition Corp
Then we started investigating

52. Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited
Edge Network Services Limited
Then we started investigating

53. Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited
Then we started investigating

54. Then we started investigating
Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited

55. Then we started investigating
Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited
Facebook Ireland Holdings
Randomus Investments Limited

56. Then we started investigating
Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited
Facebook Cayman
Holdings Unlimited IV
Facebook Ireland Holdings
Randomus Investments Limited
Facebook International
Holdings II Ltd

57. Then we started investigating
Facebook, Inc
Facebook Ireland Limited Edge Network Services Limited
Facebook Cayman
Holdings Unlimited IV
Facebook Cayman
Holdings Unlimited II
Facebook Cayman
Holdings Unlimited lll
Facebook Ireland Holdings
Randomus Investments Limited
Facebook International
Holdings II Ltd
Facebook International
Holdings I Ltd
Facebook Cayman
Holdings Unlimited I

58. So the question is, great
companies of the world:
what have you
got to hide?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grumpychris/147840937/sizes/l/