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On
Tuesday Rick Schwartz
published
an item
on his blog naming Chef
Patrick (Patrick Ruddell) as
the Moniker
employee who was behind a widely
publicized WhoIs privacy breach
that came to light in December (the
employee's name was not released until
Schwartz did it this |
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week).
The news triggered a firestorm of
commentary on both men's blogs that
is still going on (much of it
unfortunately tainted by an
indiscriminate mudslinging frenzy
propagated in part by anonymous posters
who don't know either man
personally).
Ruddell
admitted he was responsible but wrote
about what he considered to be
extenuating circumstances that led him
to make what he agreed was a major
mistake. Some have sympathized with
him, while others remain unsatisfied
with how he has handled the situation,
further fueling the ongoing debate.
Still, the bottom line is that,
despite the ancillary
allegations, the crucial mistake
was his and he has to deal with the
repercussions now.
I
don't think a lot has been left unsaid
at this point and with most of what I
know about this incident having
been told to me off the record by
the parties directly involved, I am not
at liberty to add more to what is
already online. |
Patrick
Ruddell (Chef Patrick) |
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The
basic details are all out there now
though, so the question becomes, when
people get tired of talking about it, what
happens next? |
Ruddell
has left Moniker and this week started promoting
his second DNCruise
conference scheduled for September. He is also
involved in the ownership and development of ScienceFiction.com
and said he hopes to continue brokering domains,
which had been his primary job at Moniker. How
much will his business interests be affected by
the controversy now swirling around him? For
the foreseeable future, Ruddell will be a controversial
figure but he has built up a lot of good will
among fans and friends who will continue to
support him with the belief that everyone
deserves a second chance. However he will also
have to deal with a chorus of detractors who
will continually throw this incident in his face
at the slightest provocation. Everything he does
will be under a microscope for some time. I
personally hope that he is up to the challenge,
learns from this bad experience and wins his
critics back over with his actions going
forward. I do know that he is a good family man
(I've seen it first hand - it's not a charade
aimed at attracting sympathy during his current
travails as some have charged) and I hope things
work out for the best for him and his family as
time goes on. We are all human and subject to
making rash decisions and stupid mistakes and I
think most people understand that. So, as bad as
the heat in his kitchen is now, Ruddell's story
could still have a happy ending.
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For
the industry at large, some good could
still come out of this affair. As I
wrote when talking about this incident
in December,
it exposed a big weakness in WhoIs
Privacy security at the registrars
(Moniker in this case, but I suspect the
same issue exist at most other
registrars too). Too many employees have
access to what should be
confidential information. I have
personally never used WhoIs privacy on a
domain and doubt that I ever will, but
for those who pay for it - as long as
you are paying for privacy (I
don't care how large or small the fee
is) you should be able to expect privacy |
Image:
Salvatore
Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
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from
the registrar selling the product. Some
of the more compelling posts in the blog
wars gave examples of how the ease of
access to this information makes it
possible for an employee to cause
all manner of harm to a company's
clients. |
While
common corporate human resources policy
prevented Moniker from talking publicly about
who was responsible for the breach there and how
the employee was dealt with, they could talk
about what they plan to do to shore up their
WhoIs Privacy service. I think there is an opportunity
for them here. Moniker has always been a
favorite among domain investors, in no small
part because their reputation for rock solid
security was golden. I think that makes
them the logical registrar to lead with a
promise of providing the industry's most
stringent security for those buying their WhoIs
protection service. This experience shows them
and others what needs to be done and
looks to me like a rare chance to make a silk
purse out of a sow's ear and regain a lot of
trust in the process.
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