It was a rainy day and so I decided to work on something I have been putting off for a long time — cleaning up my contact list. We all have contact lists. Some of us keep them in a Palm Pilot or other personal digital assistant. Others keep them in a small spiral notepad. Some still use the Rolodex. When Alfred Neustadter (born in Brooklyn, NY in 1910 and died in 1996) invented the Rolodex and began marketing it in 1958, he may not have realized that in the twenty-first century, when people in the world of business and government referred to a “well connected” person with a lot of contacts, they would say he or she “has a good Rolodex”.
To build my “Rolodex”, I started to accumulate contact records more than twenty years ago using a system at IBM called PROFS (The IBM Professional Office System that allowed users to “send and receive information via a computer terminal”) which employees used mostly for internal communications. In the early 1990’s I got to know Bill Machrone at PC Magazine. Shortly after that I got hooked on learning everything I could about the Internet and I discovered a set of standards called X.400 which provided a way to send emails between various incompatible email systems using the Internet as the transport between them. Back then most companies had no connection between the Internet and their internal systems even though today we just take it for granted that all email conforms to the Internet standard called SMTP which assures compatibility. I still remember the joy (and complexity) of sending Bill an email and him replying to it. Bill and many consultants and members of the press were using MCIMail, a proprietary messaging system that used addresses that were like phone numbers; e.g. 445-4496. I began to accumulate contact information for those with whom I corresponded on various systems including Compuserve, Spectrum, and Prodigy. In 1994 I began to use Lotus Notes and I consolidated all of the contact information into the Notes address book. I continue to use Notes with IBM but, for various reasons since I retired in 2001, I primarily use Outlook.
So much for the history — the cumulative result of many years of messaging was a contact list numbering 3,838 names with corresponding email addresses, fax and phone numbers, snailmail addresses and other information. I have always considered the contact list to be an important asset and have regularly kept multiple backup copies of it on my ThinkPad, my server, on DVD, USB Keys and a synchronized copy of the Sony Ericsson P900. I can not imagine losing it. On the other hand, a lot of the information had become obsolete. People move, retire, and unfortunately pass on. I decided to take the time to go through each and every entry, pruning out those that I knew were duplicative or invalid for whatever reason. It took quite a few hours and the end result was a reduction in the number of contact records from 3,838 to 2,475 or 35.5%. A savings in space but more importantly an upgrade in the quality of the asset.
Fortunately, there is a much better way to keep your contact list current. The idea is not a new one — I first saw it from an Israeli company at least a half-dozen years ago — use the Internet to synchronize contact information between users. Numerous companies have gone after contact synchronization in different ways and I have tried some of them. From my perspective, the winner is Plaxo. Plaxo keeps a copy of your contact information on their server. If you are a Plaxo member and you change your phone number or address or email, all other Plaxo members — which you have specifically authorized — will automatically receive an update in their Outlook contact list. If a Plaxo member that happens to be one of your contacts changes any of their contact information, the change shows up in your contact list. Completely automatic. Every email you receive shows a Plaxo status icon in the email that tells you whether they are in your contact list and whether they are a Plaxo member. You can click on the icon and send them your contact info or request theirs using a tailored personal message to them. Once you connect — by your initiation or by someone else’s that you agree to be connected to — the rest is automatic. You are permanently synchronized. As a by-product of all this, your contact list is backed up on the Plaxo server so you can always recover the information if you lose it for any reason.
At first the idea of having your contact information on someone else’s server might seem frightening. However, I have concluded that it is the best solution and the Plaxo is a trustworthy company. I was not so sure at first and so I did some research. In looking at the Plaxo web site, I was quite impressed with their security and privacy policies. In particular, I thought the security safeguards deployed by Plaxo were quite strong. They use a secure firewall system, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that constantly monitors all activity in the Plaxo network, a Mandatory Access Control system to manage access to all server resources, an impressive arrangement for physical security including access points that are controlled by biometric hand geometry readers and closed circuit TV camera coverage of the datacenter. They use a custom “hardened Linux kernel” that has been reduced to the minimum subset necessary to run their service, effectively removing many exploits and potential compromises. All passwords are encrypted before being stored in their database. They do not send passwords or requests for passwords through e-mail and they strip attachments from all Plaxo e-mails in order to prevent viruses from being transmitted through their system. They test their security systems regularly and periodically contract with outside companies to audit the security systems and processes.
All of the precautions don’t mean much though, unless you trust the management of the company and that they mean what they say. I have talked to Todd Masonis, a young Stanford graduate who is founder and Vice-President of Products for Plaxo. He says all the right things about their intentions and I believe him. So far nearly three million users of Plaxo apparently feel the same way. One of the unique provisions of the Plaxo Privacy Policy is the ownership rights it grants members regarding their contact information. As a Plaxo member, you have the right to access, update, and delete your information at any time—even in the event of a merger or acquisition. Their policy also states that if they plan to use your information in a manner different from the manner stated at the time you joined Plaxo, you would have a choice as to whether or not they get to use your information in this new way. Plaxo will proactively notify you by sending an e-mail to your primary e-mail address and providing a reasonable amount of time for you to respond, typically 30 days. If you do not agree with the new policy, you will retain the right to completely delete your information from their service.
Bottom line, I find Plaxo to be a significant productivity boost and a really well implemented tool to help me protect one of my most important assets — information that enables me to connect with many friends and colleagues around the world.

• eWeek story about Plaxo
• Other patrickWeb stories about Internet Technology