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P2P Contact Info Service From Napster Co-Founder

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the on-the-innernet dept.

scrm writes "Plaxo is an interesting new service from Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster. It's a P2P-based add-on to Outlook that confronts the old problem of keeping contact lists up-to-date. Mozilla mail support is on the cards, and yes, the company does 'take privacy very seriously'. Check the press here(1), here(2) and here(3). You can also access your contact list over the web."

3 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. It's good the company takes privacy seriously by Sheetrock · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because being able to follow networks of business relations and friendships is something that would be very valuable to many organizations. Perhaps more valuable than a happy user of their software, if you catch my drift.

    --

    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
    -- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.




  2. Privacy by bigbango · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If they really take privacy seriously, why do they act as "man-in-the-middle" of all transactions between their users? Who knows how many valid e-mail addresses they have collected. Their system has nothing to do with p2p-systems, it is in fact no more p2p-like than e-mail.

    Worst of all, Plaxo users upload their contact lists containing personal information about others. That is without their acknowledgement.

  3. READ THEIR PRIVACY POLICY by User+956 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you think about it, Plaxo is the perfect "built to be acquired" company. Read their "privacy policy" here:

    "In the event Plaxo goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition or the sale of a portion of its assets, Your Information and your membership in the Plaxo Contact Networks(TM) will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. You will be notified of an ownership change pursuant to Notification of Changes section of the privacy statement."

    See that? They consider your information to be an asset. So, I wonder how long they're going to farm data before selling themselves to doubleclick? Imagine how valuable that data will be. Your surfing habits, matched with your personal information, matched with the personal information and surfing habits of all your 1st-degree friends, and all your friends' friends...

    (Also notice that Plaxo (purposely) makes its full privacy policy difficult to link. It's a javascript popup)

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.