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Plaxo's always gotten a bad rap. The contact management site has been working hard to clean up its image and assure users that they've cut down on the number of spammy alerts that get sent through their system. So when we heard that Plaxo is handling email address storage for YouTube video sharing and inevitably pissing people off, we decided we'd give them the benefit of the doubt. Admittedly, we'll turn on them like a rabid dog next time someone "updates their contact information" at us.

The real loser in this whole Youtube/Plaxo spam-a-drama is undoubtedly YouTube, which earned wrath from the quick-to-judge, quick-to-correct-itself blog Boing Boing by daring to associate with this black sheep. In his note to Boing Boing writer Xeni Jardin, Plaxo rep Joseph Smarr at least worked in a TechCrunch plug. YouTube didn't bother replying to Xeni's questions, but they're busy smelling their own rats.

Co-written with Gottfried the Intern

Share a YouTube video = share friend's email with Plaxo? [Boing Boing]