Drop.io - Privacy on the Internet? .....What?

Cool alternative to Facebook and other social networks that always seem to be in a state of controversy to do with privacy. Not sure if this will really catch on with the social networking community, but who knows? Seems as though we may be turning another corner in the web 2.0 world.

What I like is that they claim that the information you provide or "drop" is unsearchable by Google or other search engines. I did a quick search for "drop+io" and sure enough no profiles come up. I'm also intrigued by this phone number service. Each "drop space" or account is given a unique phone number where you can call and leave mp3 messages for other to collect. It also supports conference calling and fax. Here is an interesting article, and it covers many points of interest to do with privacy issues with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.

Sam Lessin is preoccupied with digital privacy. And for good reason: It’s more than a little scary how much you can find out about him with a simple Google search of his name. More than 41,800 results scrounge up articles about his Internet start-up company, Drop.io, where he serves as CEO. You can find his LinkedIn profile and Facebook account (Harvard ’05!). There’s his blog at drop.io/swl and his Twitter.com account. (A recent tweet: “downloading gossip girl on our work WiMAX to watch later - the cable at home is unacceptable - not proud of it, but am doing it.”) Most of these sites include Mr. Lessin’s public information, tidbits that he volunteered to share. But there are some things Mr. Lessin, like the rest of us, would prefer not to communicate to 10 million other Internet users.

“Look, if my entire life is going to be searchable and findable, I’m going to change how I live my life, or at least how I live it online,” said Mr. Lessin, a fit, bespectacled 25-year-old sitting in the coffee shop at the basement of Drop.io’s office (literary magazine n+1 is in the same building). He lives in Tribeca and commutes to Brooklyn, walking over the Brooklyn Bridge each day to his office on Jay Street. “I’m going to change the power of the Internet as a tool for communication.”

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