Distributed personal information aggregator

Abstract

A method of aggregating personal information available from public sources over a network. The method includes the steps of receiving at a computer server, data associated with a person, the data being publicly available over a network, and including at least a first name and a last name; using a processor to compare the received data to a plurality of data profiles stored in a database of one or more memory devices, each profile corresponding to a previously-profiled person and containing data associated with the previously-profiled person; determining whether the received data sufficiently matches data associated with the previously-profiled person of the data profile; and merging the received data with the data associated with the previously-profiled person.

1 . A system for indexing information available from public sources over a network and corresponding to a person, comprising a first server, a processor, and a database of profiles stored in a memory device. 
     
     
         2 . A method of integrating public web data with an e-mail system, comprising:
 receiving at a client computer data relating to an e-mail message transmitting a request to a server storing a database   receiving at the client computer of the receiver data corresponding to a previously-profiled person;   displaying at the client computer at least a portion of the data corresponding to the previously-profiled person using an overlay to an e-mail system of the receiver of the e-mail message.