Privacy concerns are a growing concern for the internet, and Techcrunch writes an article on the different ways that information companies handle the question of privacy - both the opportunity and the danger.
Jigsaw, who I've written about, and spoken to in other interviews, comes in for some pretty harsh commentary (although not as harsh as last year).
Gray market startups like Jigsaw that are in the business of brokering personal information don’t make it any easier for the rest of the industry to show that they take the management of personal information seriously.
I'm not sure what a gray market is, but this is the kind of information that is usually reserved for companies like PayPerPost, who seem to need a silver bullet, garlic, and a stake to put down (I'm not a PayPerPost fan, and refuse to link or read sites that use the service).
I Jigsaw's defense, I'll quote my interview with Jim Fowler, the CEO, at Recruiting.com.
Why would anyone put in good contact names? How can you justify putting in contact information for other people?
This isn’t about privacy, it’s about data. Data is centralizing, and marketers are already gathering the information elsewhere. It’s available for sale already through other entities. The Jigsaw system allows you to put data in and get something back for it, rather than your competitors. You can’t hide from it, so you may as well manage your own information and learn to use it.
Jim's point is one of realism - the data is already out there - we may not like it, but just about everything we do is online, and while the thought of data being stolen may sound scary, the fact is I can look up your house online and tell you how much you payed for your mortgage.
I can pull your home phone number, the church you go to, what place you earned in the latest Turkey Trot, and in some cases, pictures of your family, house, and office. It's a scary world, but it's not one Jigsaw created.
At the same time, Jigsaw is enabling the process - profiting off the idea that data is free. They have to expect some flak from privacy advocates, and TechCrunch has a big microphone.
Me? I just report. You decide.
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