You would think that with a name like “Paul Konopacki” there wouldn’t be much of a chance of mistaken identity.
On July 10, 2019 (Wednesday), I was looking through my Google Drive account and saw a file being shared with me called “OTR Deposits”. I had no idea what it was until I opened it. It was a spreadsheet containing financial deposits for a company called OTR Capital. This was highly sensitive information! Names of clients, insufficient funds transactions, lockbox totals, EFT payment info, etc. I tried hard to remember if I had any connection to OTR in the past. Came up with nothing.
One feature in Google Drive is it keeps track of who made a modification to a document, and when. One person who was editing the document a lot was Eric Redderoth. I decided to contact him and find out why I had access to the spreadsheet. A few Google search results sent me to LinkedIn and other places where you had to pay a fee to get contact info. The only good possibility I saw at the time was to send him a Facebook message and hope he would read it in a timely manner. I wrote in the message that if I did not hear from him soon, I would try another method of contact:
Eric, For some reason I have access to a document called “OTR Deposits” on Google Drive. I cannot figure out way. I just discovered it today. It looks like it has sensitive information in it and is regularly being editing. If you want to discuss this issue, please call my home phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx. If I don’t hear back from you today, I may try some other way to contact you tomorrow. Here is a sample of the document’s editing history in Google Drive:
3:28 PM Eric Redderoth and Alora Hxxxxx edited an item Google Sheets OTR Deposits
10:46 AM Tyler Cxxx edited an item Google Sheets OTR Deposits
6:50 AM Eric Redderoth edited an item Google Sheets OTR Deposits
Tue 2:58 PM Eric Redderoth and 2 others edited an item Google Sheets OTR Deposits
Earlier this week Mon 5:43 PM Eric Redderoth and 2 others edited an item Google Sheets OTR Deposits
Last week Fri 12:24 PM Alora Hxxxxx and 2 others edited an item Google Sheets OTR Deposits
The next day, Thursday, I have not heard from Eric. I decided to call the company directly and see if I could get to Eric that way. After a minute, Eric came on the phone and I explained the situation.
Here is an audio clip of our conversation:
You see, there are a handful of people in the United States with the name “Paul Konopacki“. There are a couple in Wisconsin; one in Chicago; one who was a political cartoonist that may no longer be alive. One particular “Paul Konopacki” was a student at Ramapo College in New Jersey. He was a volleyball player who recently graduated. In 2013 I got an email from a volleyball coach asking me if I was going to an athletic conference. I replied that he had contacted a different “Paul Konopacki“. When doing an occasional vanity internet search on my name, an article or two would show up about him. THAT “Paul Konopacki” was the one who was supposed to have access to the “OTR Deposits” speadsheet because he now works for OTR. Eric had selected my email address to have access, by mistake.
Eric and I had a good laugh about it over the phone. He removed me from the shared file on Google Drive, we said our goodbyes, and the problem was solved.
I had no interest in any of the data in the spreadsheet, other than curiosity. I would hope that if I had made the same mistake in allowing a stranger on the internet access to my company’s internal data, they would show me the same mercy and resolve the issue without malice.
Years ago, I decided that whenever possible, I would make sure to publish my work on the internet as Paul W. Konopacki to distinguish myself from my namesakes.
