Faced with public anger and pressure from authorities, providers of online credit checks recently agreed to alter a service that allowed Swedes to snoop through each other's finances anonymously and free of charge. "Your neighbour knows what you're making, your brother-in law knows what you're making, and people around you can know whether you're on any records for outstanding payments. It's private and a bit embarrassing," said Hans Karnlof, a lawyer at the Swedish Data Inspection Board.

Online credit checks became a popular pastime in Sweden after a web site called Ratsit.se in November started publishing financial details, free-of-charge, from the national tax authority. The site has some 610,000 registered users - in a country of 9 million - and handled an average of 50,000 online credit checks a day. The service allowed users to snoop financial information simply by typing in someone's name and clicking on "search." Authorities said the noble purpose of Sweden's transparency laws was being abused for frivolous credit checks, and pressured Ratsit and similar web sites to impose some restrictions.

Now, information on personal income and debt can only be accessed for a fee - 10 requests a week for 15 kronor ($A2.50) each, and 25 kronor ($A4.30) for each additional request. Also, the financial checks are no longer anonymous - people whose finances have been viewed online will be notified by mail who checked their details. A more extensive report, including information on financial and property assets, costs 49 kronor ($A8.20) per search.

"I do think our service is justified because things like wages should be transparent," said Ratsit's chief executive, Anders Johansson. "A lot of people use it to negotiate their pay." Employers also use the service as part of background checks to see if potential hires have any outstanding debts, he added. The principle of openness is deeply ingrained in Swedish society. The first freedom of information act was established in 1766 to allow citizens insight into the affairs of the government.

Those rights were gradually expanded and now allow Swedes unfettered access to almost all records that the state keeps on the population. It is a gold mine for journalists, who routinely sift through tax forms and income statements to get information on public officials. But private citizens are generally more shy about heading down to the tax office and requesting information on their neighbours.

It is different online, though. "There's a big difference in sitting hidden at home and being reasonably anonymous than to trot off to the tax office and sit in the waiting room and tell a person eye-to-eye whom you want to check," said Karolina Lassbo, a 27-year-old lawyer in Uppsala, a city famous for its university. Lassbo said she had used Ratsit once "because I wanted to see what it said about me." But her curiosity got the better of her: "Then I checked friends and celebrities."

Normally, credit information companies must inform the target of their credit check, but these rules didn't originally apply to online sites. That is because a 2003 law change made it possible for web sites to get publishing rights, protected by the freedom of the press. When Ratsit started making use of that right last year, it quickly became one of Sweden's most popular web sites, but also one of the most controversial.

Many Swedes were uncomfortable that their intimate financial details, like debts and salaries, are so easily accessible. Only some 10,000 people, who have protected identities because they live under some form of threat, are excluded from the public records. The Data Inspection Board received "an avalanche" of complaints at the end of 2006 from people who thought the online credit checks were being abused, said Karnlof, the lawyer for the board. "This type of access to financial information is in no way available in other countries like it is here," he said. "Visitors we've had from Ireland and Germany, for example, just drop their jaws when they hear about it."

Personal integrity issues aside, authorities expressed concern that sites like Ratsit could help anyone intent on fraud to more easily steal people's identities by examining their personal details. The National Tax Board decided to throw a spanner in the wheel.

While the law obliges the board to give out tax information, it does not say in what form. So tax authorities simply threatened to supply the information on paper, instead of electronically, which is the standard. That would have created a major headache for the credit information agencies, forcing them to scan millions of records. To avoid the hassle, the companies agreed to some restrictions on how the material is accessed. Before the new rules kicked in June 11, Ratsit saw a big spike in traffic. More than 2 million credit checks were made in the previous two weeks, said Johansson, the company's boss.

Ratsit, which also allows users to browse the finances of Swedish companies, expects the personal credit checks to drop by half under the new rules, but is revamping its free service with other information to attract new users. The free service has now added marital status and a "singles-index," showing how many people in a specific postal code district live on their own. Ratsit also plans to include phone numbers.

"I think it will attract even more visitors," Johansson said. AP