Automattic Removes WP Engine Client List From Tracker Site via @sejournal, @martinibuster

7 months ago 90

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Automattic removed a spreadsheet containing the domain names of WP Engine customers from the WP Engine Tracker website. The removal is successful effect to a preliminary injunction granted to WP Engine, ordering Automattic and Matt Mullenweg to region the spreadsheet wrong 72 hours.

The preliminary injunction was warmly received connected X (formerly Twitter), a tweet by Joe Youngblood typical of the wide sentiment:

“The ruling was a gigantic triumph for tiny businesses and entrepreneurs that trust connected unfastened root keeping it’s promises. That includes allowing webhosts to big and not stealing codification repositories.

I americium hopeful the afloat result of this looks overmuch the same.”

Someone other tweeted:

“Unbiased parties watching connected the sidelines deliberation the tribunal got it right. This was evident from time one.

Next measurement for you guys is to effort to settee retired of tribunal to forestall further embarrassment and trim imaginable hazard successful damages.”

Mullenweg’s Dispute With WP Engine

Matt Mullenweg began an onslaught against WP Engine connected September 20, 2024 aft WP Engine declined to wage tens of millions of dollars, what WP Engine’s attorney’s called “extortionate monetary demands” successful a cease and desist missive sent to Automattic’s Chief Legal Officer connected September 23rd.

On November 6th Automattic intensified the unit connected WP Engine by launching a website called WP Engine Tracker that offered a database of WP Engine customers that could beryllium utilized by different web hosts to solicit the clients with offers to permission WP Engine.

Solicitations of WP Engine customers seemingly followed, arsenic related by a Redditor successful a treatment astir the WP Engine Tracker website:

“I was retired of the bureau for immoderate aesculapian procedures, truthful I missed the WPE Tracker thing. However, this explains wherefore I’ve received unsolicited hosting calls from definite operations. Clearly, idiosyncratic is mining it to solicit business. Absolutely aggravating and besides wholly expected.

All this does is further entrench maine connected WP Engine. Good work, Matt, you dweeb.”

The WP Engine Tracker website became grounds of the harm Mullenweg was causing to WP Engine and was cited successful the petition for a preliminary injunction.

The justice sided with WP Engine and granted the preliminary injunction, requiring among galore different things that Automattic and Mullenweg instrumentality down the database of WP Engine customers.

The tribunal bid states:

“Within 72 hours, Defendants are ORDERED to:

…(a) region the purported database of WPEngine customers contained successful the “domains.csv” record linked to Defendants’ wordpressenginetracker.com website (which was launched connected oregon about
November 7, 2024) and stored successful the associated GitHub repository located astatine https://github.com/wordpressenginetracker/wordpressenginetracker.github.io.”

The CSV record was subsequently removed though the nexus to a non-existent record , with a nexus showing zero :

Screenshot Of WP Engine Tracker Website

Clicking the nexus leads to a 404 mistake effect message.

Screenshot Of 404 Error Response For CSV Download

A propulsion petition connected GitHub shows that a petition was made to region the CSV record connected December 11th.

“Remove CTA to download database of sites #29

wordpressenginetracker commented 9 hours ago
This PR removes the substance and download nexus to download the database of sites that person are inactive utilizing WPE”

Screenshot Of GitHub Pull Request

Advanced Custom Fields Plugin

Automattic removed WP Engine’s Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin from the authoritative WordPress.org plugin repository and replaced it with Automattic’s cloned version, renamed arsenic Secure Custom Fields (SCF).

The preliminary injunction orders Automattic to besides reconstruct entree to the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin repository:

“Within 72 hours, Defendants are ORDERED to:

…(v) returning and restoring WPEngine’s entree to and power of its Advanced Custom Fields (“ACF”) plugin directory listing astatine https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-customfields, arsenic it existed arsenic of September 20, 2024.”

The cloned SCF plugin presently inactive exists astatine that URL, though Automattic inactive has clip to instrumentality it down.