You Can Now Relakks!

A new service based in Sweden, intends to use the country’s privacy umbrella to prevent exposure of private information. The infant company was launched as a response to AOL’s recent exposure of searches of more than 650,000 clients.



Labs2 Group based in Lund, Sweden offers Relakks which costs five euros –about $6.50 a month. It provides encryption as well as legal protections to hide customer’s credit information. They delete credit card data as soon as the transaction is complete. This is totally in compliance with the service agreement of most plastic providers. The customer must resubmit their card information each month, but it is a very safe and effective method of protecting information.



People who are involved with promoting violence and child pornography will still be tracked as Sweden’s law is tight, but not absolute.



At least two-thirds of the current 21,000 customers are based in the United States. This is a reflection of the concern about exposure of personal data. It could also indicate the number of people who may have a reason to hide information.



Although many may feel this new service is a great way to regain peace of mind, it is my guess that few will use it in the long term.



I think the authorities in both countries will raise an eyebrow should traffic increase substantially. Global law enforcement compacts will probably be changed so that at least official investigating agencies will have greater access.