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Kickstarter Leaves Project Ideas Exposed

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-just-had-70,000-great-ideas dept.

netbuzz writes "Crowd-funding startup Kickstarter is taking a public-relations hit today after it was reported that some 70,000 not-yet-public project ideas were left exposed on the company's Web site for more than two weeks. Kickstarter insists that no financial information was compromised and that only a few dozen of the projects were actually accessed. 'Obviously our users' data is incredibly important to us, the company said in a blog post. 'Even though limited information was made accessible through this bug, it is completely unacceptable.'"

5 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Revelation by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As I read this I tried to analyze my feelings about this news. I have found that I am completely indifferent. Did someone get to take a look at unpublished, in-progress kickstarter ideas? May be. Does it matter? Not really.

    I suppose that means I should expect the buzz around kickstarter to fade away until it settles into its niche. Sorta like eBay.

    I'm sure one of those 7000 will flip out and try to sue somebody, but it would be meaningless.

    --
    "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
    1. Re:Revelation by arth1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As I read this I tried to analyze my feelings about this news. I have found that I am completely indifferent. Did someone get to take a look at unpublished, in-progress kickstarter ideas? May be. Does it matter? Not really.

      Bear in mind that the US just switched to a "first to file" patent system, and since these projects hadn't hit the open stage yet, they were unpublished and thus not "prior art" unless published elsewhere.

      "Only" dozens were accessed...

    2. Re:Revelation by MetalliQaZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is kickstarter. It is meant for projects, not patents. If they were planning patenting something, they shouldn't have been pumping the details into website that is essentially public. Also, lets face it. If the innovations were so good, they could get funding through traditional channels. (saving up, selling car, mortgaging home, begging friends and family, venture capital firms, private venture capital investments. In that order.)

      -d

      --
      "Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
  2. Re:I so meta... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The ultimate relevant XKCD, in that it was actually posted today.

  3. Re:"Exposed" defined: by poetmatt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So basically as TFA says, the hype is courtesy of the WSJ and vested interests that don't like independent businesses and new startups? Say it ain't so.