[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Seriously though, the books themselves spell it out. DocWagon keeps your data highly protected exactly because they know that if at any point they screw up, they are completely out of business.

Well, runners are not exactly a large demographic, so realistically their favor would not decide the fate of a corp the size of DocWagon. But the fluff is still clear that DW actively does not care about their clients. They won't reveal anything about their clients unless it's undeniable anyway, like if somebody gets taken in under the eyes of Lone Star (see Missions). And even in that case, they will initially drag you out and put you back together, before extraditing.

It isn't shadowrunners that make up the bulk of DocWagon's business, but their business is emergency medical service.  Discretion is a large part of that, and just so for their largest clients.  Think about this for a minute: movie stars, rock idols, politicians, executives of corporations A-rated or smaller that don't have their own medical corporation of their own (or only own something in a limited area), they all use DocWagon or something similar, and if word got out - if rumor got out - that DocWagon was suddenly selling the personal information or material link of any one of their clients, then suddenly they would all move contracts to someone who wasn't.  "Hey, did you know that Mercurial / Governor Brackhaven / Maxwell Parrish was on a huge bender last night, wrecked his/her car, had to be rescued under fire, and was revealed to have six STDs??  Screamsheets are gonna go gonzo over this one!!"  Rats leaving a sinking ship don't move as fast as contract cancellations on that one.

DocWagon is, however, a corporation (AA, I think) rated by the Corporate Court, which means there is machinery in place for them to turn over someone wanted in another juris-my-diction.  Saeder-Krupp, Knight Errant, Lone Star, or whomever files the evidence they have, and petitions DocWagon.  If it's damning, DW is gonna hand your ass over - and if it's not, the prosecuting corporation is going to file with the local CorpCort rep, who might just rule in their favor, and DW is then obliged to hand you over.  So yeah, you might get rescued from a firefight with the Knights, but during your stay in the DocWagon facility, the gears will be turning, and you might wind up getting handed over to the guys from whom you were fighting to get away.

GM tip - if the runners ARE fighting corporate security for some reason, and DocWagon gets called to rescue them, have corp security stop shooting as soon as DocWagon shows up; have them get on the line to their legal right away instead. 

[Tirwalker]

There is always the option to have docwagon pull you out of a tight spot, get the first aid, and then check out of their facility AMA (against medical advice, basically they make you sign a wavier that says if you drop dead two blocks down the street its not their fault, they warned you)  Unless your GM is really a hardcase, this will probably not get you caught, provided the docwagon contract is not on the sin you are living under (even for pure pink mohawk you should always have a seperate SIN for your living situation, and do NOTHING operational with it, ever) and if it will get you caught your GM should make this clear ahead of time.  Like I said in my earlier post, this is really something for hardcore black trench coat, but if you play that way you just need to make it clear going in.

[Spooky]

I have found that docwagon is useful for my street sam/weapon specialist/big gun type characters, because they are usually the ones getting shot at the most, thus getting hit the most. For mages it's about 50/50, and deckers/riggers it usually is a way to spend nuyen. But then, most of the gms I have/do play with value docwagon, so consider that.

[farfromnice]

I presume that in some way DocWagon will use metadata from your contract the same way facebook and google do

this could be a liability in some way, as GM I don't know how use that, but as a player it's good to remember, I think

[All4BigGuns]

I'll admit that I haven't really taken much along the lines of a DocWagon contract since 3rd, but that's more because that's the first place to look at trimming nuyen expenditures down because of the reductions in character generation resources that both 4th and 5th did from what you could get in 3rd.

[Michael Chandra]

I presume that in some way DocWagon will use metadata from your contract the same way facebook and google do

Why would they? Facebook depends on ads to earn money. DocWagon gets paid for their services. Risking that bottom line would be madness.

[farfromnice]

As I understand it

Google and Facebook earn more money from metadata and statistical analysis

DocWagon probably do the same thing because it could give them valuable real time data of their employees and contractees, sure their not obligated to sell this data to an other corp but they could keep it from whatever reason they feel good

I'm just saying that is question worth mentioning, I think

[Michael Chandra]

But for Google and Facebook that metadata is their bottom line. For DocWagon their trustworthiness is their bottom line, because without it they would not earn ANY money. So they would not do things that endanger it. Go cheap on staff, sure. But Shadowrunners should not have something to fear from taking out a DocWagon contract.

Truth be told, I think that any GM who punishes people for wasting cash on a DocWagon contract needs to think about where they're going with their game. Do they really want to make their players utterly paranoid and screw them over with things that rightfully should not screw them over? Or are they willing to follow the official fluff, where a Shadowrunner CAN trust DocWagon?

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

No, in this case I kind of agree with farfromnice, even if I don't think he knows exactly what he 's meaning to think about in relation to metadata and the corporation in question.  The metadata of their clients IS something that DocWagon would look at, just as RL insurance companies do.  It helps them price their services, for one; they can nudge their prices up more for someone whose purchase profile (and location-of-purchase profile) shows them to engage in dangerous pursuits in dangerous areas.  I can also see them using realtime link location data to pre-position fast response units on certain evenings, when a significant number of individuals that their prior marketing-profile research has flagged start to gather in certain areas.  This information isn't stuff they're selling, but it is metadata that they'd use to service their clients faster, better, and for a bigger pocketbook hit.

[Namikaze]

The comparison to insurance companies is a good one, Wyrm.  Imagine if an insurance company was also a healthcare provider?  That's basically DocWagon.  They collect data on their clients and use that data to better attune their internal processes.  They might even sell non-specific information, such as the number of insured or the number of men over 40 with heart conditions.  But they aren't going to sell information about specific clients, ever.  It would disrupt the trust that the population has in them, and honestly trust is the only thing that keeps them from going out of business.  There are plenty of competitors out there for DocWagon, but DocWagon is still considered the best, and it's not just good marketing.  It's decades of trust.

As a side note, I think the fact that DocWagon won't sell their information is also holding them back from being part of a AAA corp.  That and they like to be as neutral as possible.  But I'd be shocked if one or several AAAs hadn't attempted to buy them out at some point.  They have something almost no corp has in the Sixth World: integrity.

[Michael Chandra]

Except to their employees who are worked like dogs and misled about how tough things will be. 'Nono this ain't a job requiring HTR.' 'There are two dozen 'Weeners firing at us!' 'Perfectly doable, just stay in the armored vehicle.' 'We have to leave it to pick up the guy and they are bringing out grenades!'

[Namikaze]

Well, it's not a great comparison but for a short while I worked for Progressive Insurance as tech support.  It was a lot like that, only no actual bullets. 

[Imveros]

The comparison to insurance companies is a good one, Wyrm.  Imagine if an insurance company was also a healthcare provider?  That's basically DocWagon.  They collect data on their clients and use that data to better attune their internal processes.  They might even sell non-specific information, such as the number of insured or the number of men over 40 with heart conditions.  But they aren't going to sell information about specific clients, ever.  It would disrupt the trust that the population has in them, and honestly trust is the only thing that keeps them from going out of business.  There are plenty of competitors out there for DocWagon, but DocWagon is still considered the best, and it's not just good marketing.  It's decades of trust.

As a side note, I think the fact that DocWagon won't sell their information is also holding them back from being part of a AAA corp.  That and they like to be as neutral as possible.  But I'd be shocked if one or several AAAs hadn't attempted to buy them out at some point.  They have something almost no corp has in the Sixth World: integrity.

yeah they mention fending off mega corp buy outs in a side bar from 04-10 Romero and Juliette

> DocWagon has also fended off buyout attempts by top-tier corps like
Ares and Aztechnology. They would be a huge asset, but they’re too big
a bite for anyone but the AAAs to even consider taking on.
> Nephrine

The same side bar also mentions they dont get along with knight errant too well

> There’s some friction between DocWagon and Knight Errant lately,
mostly KE throwing their weight around and pointedly reminding
DocWagon to follow proper procedure to the letter in their jurisdiction.
DocWagon has a good working relationship with Lone Star, but
KE tends to view them as a potential problem. We’ll see if it escalates
above the level of an inter-corporate spat.
> Snopes