Jigsaw - The Website that Encourages People to Sell Your Personal Contact Information   12/7/2004 - 1,478 views, 2 Comments

Jigsaw is a new start-up headquartered in San Mateo, California, that has decided that it would be nifty cool to incentivize people to rat you out by posting your personal contact information from your business card to the Jigsaw database, which seems to be the functional equivalent of the world’s largest business card Rolodex, cross-referenced by name, address, area code, and for all one knows, shoe size. If you have ever given your business card to a Jigsaw user, odds are that your contact information is already in there.

Oh, and people who want to access your contact information have to pay for it, $1.00 per contact.

That’s right, Jigsaw is selling your contact information - the very information which you never authorized them to have in the first place.

“That can’t be right! How’s it work?” you ask.

And we’re glad that you asked. Here is how it works:

Joe Schmoe signs up to be a JigSaw user. He can either pay $25.00 a month for access to the Jigsaw database of contact information, or he can contribute a minimum of 25 new contacts a month, and receive his own access for free.

And remember, once Joe enters your contact information into the Jigsaw database, any Jigsaw user can access it, provided they are willing to pay the $1.00.

Now here is where it gets even more interesting: for every business contact which Joe has entered, if another Jigsaw user buys it, Joe gets a dollar.

And all, apparently, without your permission. In fact, it seems like the only person who is getting nothing but [deleted] out of this deal is you, the person whose contact information is being bartered and sold like so many stereo components fallen off the back of a truck.

I, for one, thinks this is a horrible idea. Indeed, let me say it loud and clear here: if I find out that anyone has submitted my contact information to Jigsaw, they will be hearing from my attorneys.

Apparently, however, not everyone thinks that this is such a bad idea, as Jigsaw has already raised nearly 6million dollars in venture funding.

Damn the privacy, full speed ahead.