The Elephant in the Room--Chef Patrick and Oversee Breach of Customer Info

Indeed, a very sad turn of events, I happen to read the Chef's blog once in a while...

Here's the original blog post that started uncovering this whole unethical issue....

Ms Domainer said:

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I never know with this site

http://domaingang.com/editorial/there-will-be-no-post-about-chef-patrick/​

what's real or fake, but another site also confirms this.

If true, sad day, indeed.

Either way, because it's out there, Chef Patrick needs to address this issue ASAP to either clear his name or apologize.


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HAHA chefpatrick.com:gn:

Just read his blog and as of last week he was pulling the old ready to move on to other endeavors.

So, let me see if I understand what allegedly has happened:

1. Someone registers ChefPatrickSucks.com with domain privacy
2. Chef Patrick (who worked for Moniker/Oversee at the time) checks the domain ownership since he supposedly had access as an employee
3. Chef Patrick sends an e-mail to the employer of the owner of the domain attacking his/her character, etc.

Did I get this correct?

Seems a little far-fetched, especially considering Patrick's reputation. I'm not saying it did not happen... I'm just saying that I'd hold off on making a judgment until Patrick has a chance to clear his name.

-G

Patrick's always sounded like a good guy. This just doesn't sound like his territory. And even if he DID do it: So what? I don't want ppl to give me rigmarole about how it could have happened to anyone/any domain etc etc etc Doesn't this seem nugatory to you? I think it should.

GF said:

So, let me see if I understand what allegedly has happened:

1. Someone registers ChefPatrickSucks.com with domain privacy
2. Chef Patrick (who worked for Moniker/Oversee at the time) checks the domain ownership since he supposedly had access as an employee
3. Chef Patrick sends an e-mail to the employer of the owner of the domain attacking his/her character, etc.

Did I get this correct?

Seems a little far-fetched, especially considering Patrick's reputation. I'm not saying it did not happen... I'm just saying that I'd hold off on making a judgment until Patrick has a chance to clear his name.

-G

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Archangel said:

And even if he DID do it: So what?

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That's where the issue lies. If he DID do this, then he (as an employee for a domain registrar) used his position for personal gain (and to bring down someone else).

If this did happen, it's a BIG deal.

It's like someone at your bank releasing private details about your account activity to someone who doesn't have authorization to receive it.

There is a reasonable expectation of privacy when you register a domain with private registration.

That's where this whole controversy lies - IF he did it.

I understand you perfectly, GF. I suppose it IS a big deal but to me, it's nothing to crucifix over since it was/is a paltry domain. Still, a crime is a crime and if he did it, he should be dealt with, accordingly.

Archangel said:

I understand you perfectly, GF. I suppose it IS a big deal but to me, it's nothing to crucifix over since it was/is a paltry domain. Still, a crime is a crime and if he did it, he should be dealt with, accordingly.

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Yeah, I totally get what you mean. It's not a crime against humanity. :P

Hopefully we find out it was a misunderstanding!

He did do it...

http://www.chefpatrick.com/

So ChefPatrickSucks.com was a good reg imho. Worth mid-high $xx

---------- Post added at 04:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------

GF said:

There is a reasonable expectation of privacy when you register a domain with private registration.

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There is. But you should read the vague "terms and conditions" provided by your registrar. Imho you shouldn't expect much with the industry the way it is, with the money distributed the way it is, with the registrars setup the way they are.

They are not banks.

There are standards and I think he should have been fired based on Moniker/Oversee/Snapnames fairly dubious reputation.

//That said I don't think he did anything malicious and it was a misunderstanding but it was a lapse in judgment.

I'm sorta on Chef Patrick's side... yes, he shouldn't have looked up the information, but he didn't do anything malicious.

I read his blog posts and to me it just seems like Rick is doing this for publicity. Don't understand how this became such a big deal... it should have just been between Moniker, Chef, and the person who regged the domain.

Btw... if you find out that someone regs a domain with your name and sucks and it points to gay porn, wouldn't you do the same? (was pointed to gay porn unintentionally, domain was parked).

PlusNames said:

I'm sorta on Chef Patrick's side... yes, he shouldn't have looked up the information, but he didn't do anything malicious.

I read his blog posts and to me it just seems like Rick is doing this for publicity. Don't understand how this became such a big deal... it should have just been between Moniker, Chef, and the person who regged the domain.

Btw... if you find out that someone regs a domain with your name and sucks and it points to gay porn, wouldn't you do the same? (was pointed to gay porn unintentionally, domain was parked).

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so if someone doesn't like your names they can contact your employer and dump a load of shit of you ????

sorry but the bigger 'crime' was the contacting of the employer , personally i would never bother to even check 'mynamesucks'

great example of the bad side of human nature

Steal an apple and kill a people are both crimes but there is a huge difference in the seriousness..
Since the beginning this story was proposed on Rick Schwartz blog like a huge scandal for the industry, comparing it to the Halvarez scandal.
Yes Chef Patrick didn't act correctly and will face the consequences but in my mind it's clear that the worst part is the exploitation of this situation from Rick Schwartz.

PlusNames said:

I'm sorta on Chef Patrick's side... yes, he shouldn't have looked up the information, but he didn't do anything malicious.

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It's not the intent that matters it's the action.

Does moniker tolerate this kind of activity?
That's the issue.

He did multiple things wrong.

1) He looked
2) He acted on it

There were two opportunities for him not to not screw up and he failed on both.

Failed on 1) No one knows but there's issue Moniker has internally
Failed on 2) People know and there's an issue for Moniker externally

If he had concerns there were ways to contact the holder of a privacy domain that weren't unethical. Other than that? You just deal with it... who do you know that would have visited ChefPatrickSucks.com anyway?

Still - the real issue is for people who like to use privacy. What does that mean?

If you want privacy you have to do it yourself - and it's a pain..why you pay..but you expect it to be honored.

So a privacy breach doesn't bother anyone?

---------- Post added at 06:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------

In his post, he mentions that he wanted to know why that person registered that name and that's why he looked it up. All he had to do was send an e-mail to the address in the whois and the e-mail will be forwarded to the owner of the e-mail. He didn't need to break any rules.

silentg said:

So a privacy breach doesn't bother anyone?

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It does normally, but under this circumstance it doesn't... I know Patrick wouldn't have done something like this if the whole chefpatricksuck.com deal would have happened...

And it's not like your information is really private... it's extremely easy to find out who the real owner is... i.e., you can just contact the owner, and ones he/she emails you back you can just get the persons IP from the email. Map the IP and you now have his/her location and can go from there...

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silentg said:

So a privacy breach doesn't bother anyone?

---------- Post added at 06:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:32 PM ----------

In his post, he mentions that he wanted to know why that person registered that name and that's why he looked it up. All he had to do was send an e-mail to the address in the whois and the e-mail will be forwarded to the owner of the e-mail. He didn't need to break any rules.

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Agreed, he should have just emailed the person, but when emotions are involved we do things we later regret.

Couldn't he have just done this legally by claiming a pending lawsuit and asking them to reveal the true identity of the owner?

Whilst I have some sympathy for Chef Patrick's actions, he managed to break Monikers Privacy, and so I think he was rightfully fired.

What's with all the hate against Rick? Rick was just the messenger. If it wasn't for him, none of this would have came out. Even the post on Patrick's blog is a response to Rick's post.

You should be mad at Moniker/Oversee for not coming out earlier.

Everyone should be grateful to Rick for exposing this.

It's disturbing how many think cover-ups are OK.

If your doctor gave information about you he would be struck off, if your bank abused your privacy they would be fined millions of $.
Anyone who believes in their right to privacy cannot condone this breach.

He has now lost his integrity which will cost him dearly, not to mention the harm it will do to his ex-employer.

All I'm saying is: It's NOT that Rick brought it up. That a good thing. It was his EXECUTION that disturbs me. Trying to make something of this tiny magnitude look like the Holocaust is poor. Rick is just trying to get his name into the picture.

silentg said:

What's with all the hate against Rick? Rick was just the messenger. If it wasn't for him, none of this would have came out. Even the post on Patrick's blog is a response to Rick's post.

You should be mad at Moniker/Oversee for not coming out earlier.

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exsedo said:

Everyone should be grateful to Rick for exposing this.

It's disturbing how many think cover-ups are OK.

If your doctor gave information about you he would be struck off, if your bank abused your privacy they would be fined millions of $.
Anyone who believes in their right to privacy cannot condone this breach.

He has now lost his integrity which will cost him dearly, not to mention the harm it will do to his ex-employer.

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I'm no big fan of Rick S., but he did sit on the story for almost three months before revealing the specifics, giving all the players plenty of time to come clean and get their press releases together.

Quite frankly, Chef Patrick panicked and reacted in a knee-jerk manner. Yes, he had the right to be upset at the gay porn on the "sucks" site--I'd be upset as well--but there were legal avenues he could have taken. Perhaps he should have conferred with his boss to see what could have been done. Looking up the guy's name and sending emails to his boss is just plain creepy--and it took some forethought.

A UDRP might have been in order. The guy who regged the "sucks" site bears some responsibility as well; by parking the page, it was no longer a bonafide review site but a squatted pay-per-click page. The minute that squatter put ads on that domain (what did he expect when he parked it?), he lost the right to own that domain. Chef Patrick should have known that and should have acted accordingly.

I, too, would like to know the name of the squatter, but that probably won't happen; had Chef Patrick gone though proper channels, we just might have learned the name of this vindictive person who obviously had an ax to grind with CP.

No matter how close you might be with Chef Patrick, he committed a serious breach against his former boss and a customer. This is not child's play; he may find himself mired in legal trouble for years to come.

Very sad, indeed.


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Ms Domainer said:

A UDRP might have been in order. The guy who regged the "sucks" site bears some responsibility as well; by parking the page, it was no longer a bonafide review site but a squatted pay-per-click page. The minute that squatter put ads on that domain (what did he expect when he parked it?), he lost the right to own that domain. Chef Patrick should have known that and should have acted accordingly.
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If I regged JenniferS****S*****IsAC*ckSlut.com and pointed it to some porn you'd bother to spend the $1K+ to try and win the domain through UDRP (and continue to renew it) even though most of the time you'd lose?

Just saying.

I fully expect DNJournal to produce a reasoned follow up that makes the appropriate points. It's supposed to be a journalistic view of Domaining and Ron got himself involved so I'd be curious to know his position.

Me? I still don't really trust anyone. I know people in many places that violated policies. You think if you're famous that your private life is secret? Yah right.

donnied79 said:

but there is a huge difference in the seriousness..

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And...that's where people (unfortunately?) disagree as the comments show here and everywhere else this issue's discussed.

If anything, it so happens some people put a premium on trust. Then again, trust is rather a fleeting commodity.

Just observing.

defaultuser said:

Me? I still don't really trust anyone.

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Heh, a wise policy perhaps.

Dave Zan said:

Heh, a wise policy perhaps.

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I should change that to... I don't trust a LOT of people. There are people on this forum I do trust... I've yet to be disappointed actually ....

---------- Post added at 09:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 PM ----------

I hate to point this out..

BUT

ChefPatrickSucks.com is no longer pointed at Gay PRON!

That said...now the parking page says:

Chefpatricksucks.com
What you need, when you need it

Now that actually allowed my dirty mind to feel a little warm tingle of laughter.

When this first came out I expected it to be a guy that worked at say "Walmart" regging walmartsucks.com and using it as a whistle blower site. Then someone uses the private info alerts walmart of the employee owning that name, and subsequently loses their job.

Turns out it two of the "domainer conference attendee" types having a spat.

It's not Halvarez the sequel.

Unless the victim comes out and says something different then what cp said today the story is over to me.

ChefPatrickBlows.com is avail if anyone wants it lol

defaultuser said:

I hate to point this out..

BUT

ChefPatrickSucks.com is no longer pointed at Gay PRON!

That said...now the parking page says:

Chefpatricksucks.com
What you need, when you need it

Now that actually allowed my dirty mind to feel a little warm tingle of laughter.

Click to expand...