w4: "This Plaxo thing is insidious.

I just got an email from someone I spoke to a while ago which says 'I'm just updating my address details, please can you confirm or correct what I have?' The email is automatically generated by Plaxo and shows a neat card that indicates this guy doesn't really have have my details. So I think 'Okay.' And trott off using the link provided to go update them.

But as I'm there I'm thinking 'hey... if I change my details again, i've got this work to do again. And maybe for each person who keeps my details in Plaxo.' He's put the burden of updating my details on to me. Fine for him, not fine for me. Of course Plaxo offer the carrot 'If you get Plaxo too then you won't have to do this. We'll do it for you.'

Of course then I'm signed up for the Plaxo service. They'll want something in return (and I still have no solution for the other people who will not be using Plaxo). Some people might call this clever marketing, but I think it's a bit like being blackmailed and I don't like it."

ZDNet India : Why my address book is spamming you: "First, every time I get a Plaxo request from someone seeking my information, the message tells me how many Plaxo requests I've received previously; I'm up to 50 Plaxo requests. This means Plaxo is meticulously keeping track of who it's sent mail to. Which makes me feel like Plaxo is stalking me.
Second, how does Plaxo intend to make money? Plaxo is a free service and their Web site says the company, which has raised something north of $10 million in venture capital, plans to sell premium services to business users. Before I give Plaxo my information to store on its computers, I'd like to know what the company's specific plans are to earn a profit, and how my information fits into those plans. So far, there are no answers to those questions on the company's Web site.
Third, Plaxo is founded by a Napster co-founder, Sean Parker. Based on Napster's interesting concept of 'fair use' and property ownership, I will never trust an ex-Napster exec with anything, especially not my personal data. Plus, as far as I'm concerned, any money made from Napster is tainted. Yes, I do think businesses should pay attention to ethics, and there should be penalties for those that don't.
Fourth, Plaxo seems to rely on creating a network of Plaxo users, information about which resides on Plaxo's own computers. This is used to update information automatically in the background on the member's machines. This is an interesting feature, but requires a lot more trust than Plaxo has earned from me.
Finally, Plaxo makes a big deal about telling you how trustworthy they are. This reminds me of a used car dealer where I grew up who called himself 'Honest Joe' or something. I forget what the guy was indicted for. But I digress. "

ZDNet India : Why my address book is spamming you: "The attraction of these services is that they promise to have your contacts do the work of updating their contact information and automating the process to boot. This means your assistant doesn't have to call everyone in your address book two or three times a year to update the information. What? You don't have an assistant? Even if you did, these services could turn a mind-numbing task into something more manageable. "

This is another one about Plaxo and brothers... enjoy!!!! ZDNet India : Why my address book is spamming you: "All those verification e-mails were sent because I was trying out a bunch of address-correction add-ons for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express: AccuCard, GoodContacts, and the evil Plaxo. (I found out about a fourth, AddressSender, while researching this column, but didn't have time to assess it; if you have any experience with it, post a TalkBack below.)
Each of these sent out address-verification requests to the people in my contact list--way more often, I might add, than I might have liked. And after all that e-mailing, I'm here to report to you, dear readers (and upset recipients), that I've decided to stick with the service I started out with: GoodContacts. The others either didn't work very well or (in the case of Plaxo) were downright scary. But more on that in a moment. "

PC Magazine"when the support ends for WIN98 users and patches no longer protect against new exploits.... what will happen to the millions of PC's that cannot be upgraded with XP / Longhorn, etc. ???

Will this represent a major security threat against the internet?

Not everyone will have the means or will to buy a new PC that can support the new OS. Besides... All of my old PC's are in my home network for kids, etc. I imagine many will do the same with their old 233, 333, 450, 800 Mhz systems.

Without security patches these PC's will be the fuel for the new virus's. How do we protect the internet at that point.

The fact that Microsoft can still maintain a major position with computers after getting their hands slapped the last time is amazing. It is our fault for purchasing their products without questioning their motives. It is too bad that a company cannot produse an OS that is equal to the MS products. There is a window here for someone to even the playing field. It will take quite an effort to open that window."

PC Magazine
"The ONLY way to stop SPAM is by individual efforts to become educated and aware of ways to do so. Along with some plain old common sense, the technology exists and is pretty simple to use... all one has to do is DO IT!"

RFID TagRFID: Promise and Peril: "Now suppose that a market research company parks a van outside the supermarket and uses a directional antenna to scan your cart as you wheel it to your car. The grocery store has already done its research, but are your purchases fair game after you've left the store? Or what about an extension of van Eck phreaking (reading electromagnetic emanations at a distance)? Could a high-powered illuminator and a high-gain antenna inventory the contents of your home? It's certainly possible. If you're wearing or carrying anything with an embedded RFID tag, you could conceivably be tracked wherever you go."

Machrone Takes a Fresh Look at Plaxo: "Plaxo contains a hack that mines your Outlook profile password so that it can retrieve your contacts unhindered. Although Plaxo claims that it does nothing with your password once it retrieves your contacts, I don't like this, because it makes child's play out of accessing passwords; any other process, such as a destructive e-mail worm, can access your password, too. An article at the apparently defunct site SecurityStorm (now taken over by a popup spammer--don't go there) had technical details of Plaxo's operation, as well as correspondence between SecurityStorm's owner/author and Plaxo CEO Sean Parker. The correspondence demonstrated Parker's reaction to criticism and also showed that he he has an itchy trigger finger with his lawyers. Parker is a Napster cofounder and has had some of the most vicious law dogs unleashed against him; he's evidently learned a thing or two."

Machrone Takes a Fresh Look at Plaxo"Plaxo? It sounds like a cross between a dentifrice and a drain opener." Where they got this name?

Machrone Takes a Fresh Look at Plaxo"all the uncooperative jerks like me who never respond to those messages undermine the whole idea." I agree!!!!

Product Guides and Reviews - Contact ManagersLet's begin to read this article about Plaxo that looks really good...

Had enough of Plaxo, et alAnother good one about Plaxo.

Plaxo annoys me This is a good review about Plaxo service.