Yesterday I received an email from imeem that confirmed my suspicion that imeem is indeed Distributed Social Networking and is not going to be 'Yet Another People Aggregator'.

Thought I would share part of it with you:

"...So, who is imeem?  imeem is a software company that is creating a communications suite people will want to make a part of their daily lives.  We're not building a website that you have to join in order to be part of a community.  With imeem, you will be able to decide who to interact with, and how you want to communicate.  I'll be giving you more detail over the coming weeks as we get closer to launching our product.  Stay tuned, it will be worth your time.
 
Before I sign off, I want to say a few words about privacy.  Because our software will allow you to communicate with others, privacy and security is of vital importance.  When you use the imeem software, everything you do will be encrypted and secure.  You will have control over your information and how it's used.  At imeem, we hate spyware and will do everything we can to make your experience a safe, pleasant and private one…"
 
-Ted Malone, marketing