Hey Matt - great post! I think that most companies do not collect errant passwords, but I agree that this could be extremely valuable information. I'm surprised that with module-type languages like Ruby on Rails that there isn't one standard password module/app that has come forth.
A company making a killer open source, protected password system is much needed by the web community. Maybe there already is one?
Sam: Rails has a fairly standard password module (acts_as_authenticated). OpenID is a more interesting element to the conversation though in terms of a real "standard" that is language-independent.
Personally, I'd love to peek through the logs of, say Comcast's DNS servers to get a list of domains that people tried to hit which didn't resolve. I bet that would make for a fine list of ideas for common domain name misspellings (which can be easily monetized).
Sam
· 2 years ago
Hey Tom - It's not quite the same, but I know that some SEO guys mine websites for expiring domains with high PR and backlinks, which they then buy and monetize or use to increase the PR of their own sites.
Sam and Tom, great adds. A number of ISPs do sell aggregated traffic data to folks such as Hitwise that structure it and sell services. The raw data, of course, would be something else. I suppose it's in the interest of Comcast's venture arm to invest in a domain aggregator. And Sam, thanks for the words of encouragement!
Best, Matt
Atul Patel
· 2 years ago
Hi Matt,
There's a lot of interesting concepts in this post. As far as domain aggregation, I always wondered about the tips Whois providers received based on searches. Finally ICANN is investigating that -- http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_idomain_nam... . As far as clickstream data, password information, and all the other implicit data out there, there's clearly big opportunity here. When we sold our company to Root Markets (Seth Goldstein's company), we were really excited about the Root Vaults. I'd be interested to see how that turns up in the next generation of Internet products.
Cheers, Atul
matt_winn
· 2 years ago
Atul,
Thanks so much for stopping by, and for the article tip - can't believe the timing. Would love to hear more online or off regarding the Root Markets opp.
All Comments
A company making a killer open source, protected password system is much needed by the web community. Maybe there already is one?
Glad to see you posting more often
Sam
http://www.leveragingideas.com
Personally, I'd love to peek through the logs of, say Comcast's DNS servers to get a list of domains that people tried to hit which didn't resolve. I bet that would make for a fine list of ideas for common domain name misspellings (which can be easily monetized).
Sam
http://www.leveragingideas.com
Best,
Matt
There's a lot of interesting concepts in this post. As far as domain aggregation, I always wondered about the tips Whois providers received based on searches. Finally ICANN is investigating that -- http://www.circleid.com/posts/icann_idomain_nam... . As far as clickstream data, password information, and all the other implicit data out there, there's clearly big opportunity here. When we sold our company to Root Markets (Seth Goldstein's company), we were really excited about the Root Vaults. I'd be interested to see how that turns up in the next generation of Internet products.
Cheers, Atul
Thanks so much for stopping by, and for the article tip - can't believe the timing. Would love to hear more online or off regarding the Root Markets opp.
Best,
Matt