Stanford CIS

Colin Rule

Non-Residential Fellow

Colin Rule has worked at the intersection of technology and conflict resolution for the last two decades. He is CEO of Modria.com, an online dispute resolution service provider in Silicon Valley, and Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution at UMass-Amherst. From 2003 to 2011 he served as eBay and PayPal's first director of Online Dispute Resolution, designing and implementing systems that now resolve more than 60 million disputes each year.

Mr. Rule is the author of Online Dispute Resolution for Business, published by Jossey-Bass in September 2002. He has presented and trained around the world for organizations including the U.S. Department of State, UNCITRAL, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, as well as teaching at UMass-Amherst, Stanford, Southern Methodist University, and Hastings College of the Law. He has written and been interviewed extensively about the Internet since 1999, with columns and articles appearing in ACResolution, Consensus, Dispute Resolution Magazine, and Peace Review. He holds a master's degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in conflict resolution and technology, a B.A. in peace studies from Haverford College, and he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eritrea from 1995-1997.

Recent articles

Blog

New Book: Eye of the Storm Leadership

A few years ago, my friend Peter Adler hosted a meeting on Capitol Hill entitled "Political Courage and the Power of Bridge-Building" that involved so…

Blog

How Google and eBay Act Like Nations

Michael S. Malone on the ABC News website: "So, what do I think these stories have in common? They beautifully capture just how the nature of companies has…

Blog

The Death of the Phone

Matthew Yglesias today: "Megan Hustad bemoans the decline of the phone call as a tool of business... Apparently she learned vital skills while eavesdroppi…

Blog

The Bias of the Press: Conflict

Evan Thomas in Newsweek: "Is the mainstream press unbiased? No, but we aren't ideological. What we really thrive on is conflict..." "The mai…

Blog

Negotiating, as a precursor to an attack

Reuel Marc Gerecht in the NYT 2/20/08: "The Bush administration should advocate direct, unconditional talks between Washington and Tehran. Strategically, p…

Blog

Mediation and Obama

Jim Melamed on Mediate.com today: "Presidential candidate Barack Obama's main political message represents the absorption of the mediation movement'…

Blog

Why Lessig is 4 Obama

In the classic Lessig style.  I don't know why he writes like Prince ("What r Obama's supporters 4?") but I found it quite persuasive.…

Blog

Obama vs. the Phobocracy

Michael Chabon in today's Washington Post: "There are many reasons not to support Barack Obama's candidacy for president, but every one of them is…