Article
Website provides names of women under threat [Sweden]
Ratsit is one of many Swedish websites that offer credit reports and other personal information...Swedish Radio News has discovered that anyone, without even a login to the site, can gain access to information like the names of women who have contact with women’s hotlines, or who live at women’s shelters...Anne Asp, chief of police in Norrköping, has worked actively with issues of threatened women. “I can hardly believe that this is true”, she tells Swedish Radio News. I didn’t think this was possible. It is completely devastating for women who need protection...The head of Ratsit, Anders Johansson, tells Swedish Radio News that the issue of protecting women at risk is completely new for him. He says the credit report company’s purpose is to help customers make secure business deals: “We’ll have to take a look at this information you’re giving us,” he says, "and see what it means and how we should deal with it.” He says they handle personal information in compliance with the law and supervisory agencies.