Another startup to watch: MelonCard.
Michelle Doellman writes:
Privacy is a hot topic when it comes to the Internet and technology. Issues like cyber bullying and identity theft show that it’s still like the wild West. With the mission of protecting your privacy, California-based MelonCard is hoping to make you feel safer.
Founders Robert Leshner and Geoff Hayes came up with the idea for MelonCard purely by fate. While the pair was working on their first project – Drawn.to – they stumbled across researching how to remove personal information from the web.
“After looking around, we found it’s a really cumbersome and time consuming process,” explained Leshner. “You have to send faxes all over saying please stop selling my information. The process is broken so we took 24 hours and dedicated ourselves to building this really rough prototype of MelonCard.”
Once a MelonCard account is set up, members click on the Dashboard and select which sites remove information from. The type of information removed varies from basics like phone numbers to interests and views on politics. A tally on the dashboard shows how many sites have been expunged and a grade level of privacy.
Read more on Tech.li
Note: I have not looked into this yet so do not take this as an endorsement or recommendation. Their privacy policy is certainly short and sweet:
- We collect personal information with the express purpose of trying to protect your privacy.
- Your personal information will ONLY be shared with third-parties specifically to opt you out of their services.
- You will specifically execute each opt-out request which utilizes your personal information.
- We will never sell or rent our mailing list or user information, in any way shape or form. Never.
- We’re eager to hear your questions or concerns at [email protected]; we will personally respond.
Some info on how long data are retained or stored and whether users can delete their accounts totally and permanently would be helpful, but this seems somewhat promising. You can check out their site and their blog.