[Jim VB]

I received an email this morning from Bill Goodwin’s new venture. In the email he includes a username and password. He uses the password from his old auction house, which he sold to Beckett’s 5-6 years ago.

First, the password info is supposed to protected and not available to the auction house.

Second, in this day and age, no one should be posting that info in an unencrypted fashion, in an email.

I’d like to know whether the source of this breach was Beckett’s, or Bob Freedman.

It’s certainly possible that Beckett’s sold the customer list to Bill. (I prefer thinking that they sold it, as the alternative is that Bill stole it.), but theoretically, that list should not include passwords.

I have emailed my concerns to Beckett’s, Bill Goodwin, and Bob Freedman. None have replied.

To me, this is a HUGE concern.

Remember, we have been told in the past that generally speaking, auction houses are not able to see your max bids. However, if the house has access to the password, they can now simply log on and look.