Inspot.org is a service that allows people who have an STD to notify present or past sexual partners about the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

The service was created in 2004, in San Francisco, and since then statistics show that 30, 000 people have used the service to send approximately 50, 000 e-cards. The process of sending such a notification is simple; the user goes online, fills out the email address of the person who needs to be informed, selects the STD and a model of an e-card and sends the message. This can be done anonymously or not depending on one’s preferences. Though the service has proved efficient and it does the job, it can also be criticized.

Some of the criticism concerns the fact that because it is so simple to send such email notifications some people might use it to play pranks on friends or, simply, people they don’t like. Even so, Inspot.org has declared that only about 4 return emails have been sent to complain that the specific notification shouldn’t have been sent to them. This proves that people take the service seriously and that people are aware of the fact that finding out that one might have a sexually transmitted disease is serious news.

Others say that because the service is so impersonal and because the fact that emails can be sent anonymously, can do more on a psychological level, as the best way to share this kind of news is in person.

A report shows that between 2006 and 2007, 15% of the cards warned others about gonorrhea, 15% for syphilis, 9 % warned of a possible HIV infection, 12% for Chlamydia and the rest warned people of diseases such as “crabs” or hepatitis.