Comments on: How Relakksed is Relakks?

By: notme

notme — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:22:43 +0000

@teimu
The “nothing to hide” argument is a fallacy.
Seeking privacy is not proof of any guilt.
If you have nothing to hide, would you mind an IRS audit every year?
There’s a good, but rather heady essay on the subject at ssrn.com/abstract=998565

By: teimu

teimu — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:28:35 +0000

Ralph said:
“On the issue of how ‘secure and anonymous’ is Relakks I think it reasonable to ask what do you mean and/or want from ‘secure and anonymous’? My own feeling is that I’m not doing hellish much wrong.”

Wait, so if what you’re doing isn’t “hellish wrong”, then what do you have to fear? Don’t use Relakks then.

By using it, you admit compliance with the view that what you are doing is wrong and can get you into trouble.

Can’t have your cake and eat it too man.

By: dane

dane — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:56:54 +0000

There is something seriously wrong with PayPal, they are working on the problem. But it’s a big technical solution that might take up to one month to accomplish. During the time you can always pay directly to our bank account. I will load your account for a week so you can use our service until your payment have arrived. 2008-06-25 15:57:51

IBAN: SE7712000000012210110645
SWIFT: DABASESX

Don’t forget to put in your alias or UserID.
(It will take a couple of days before we get the paper form the bank that you paid, so please be patience.)

You can also pay directly to us 5â‚¬ (50SEK) one month 50â‚¬ (450SEK) one year. Send money to

Martin Norneus
Relakks
Winstrupsgatan 1
222 22 Lund
Sweden

(don’t forget to write your UserID or alias so I can load you r account manually. This will take a few days for me to receive the payment).

By: RelakksUser

RelakksUser — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:48:04 +0000

I think it’s a good sign if paypal barks! Why? Because it’s a snooping company & a legal entity in the US. Prob. HomeDept. wants access to relakks via paypal, but can’t due to relakks refusal. So paypal takes revenge and cuts off relakks. Next step are the creditcards….all happened before –> mp3.com

By: Ralph

Ralph — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:01:46 +0000

I’d like to say a few words in defence of Relakks:

Firstly, you can try it for free. Go to the site now and just sign up for a free one month trial. It’s not difficult to do. After you’ve used the trial then decide from experience if it is worth it to you or not.

I have just finished a free trial and am now looking to subscribe (but can’t because just now they are ‘reviewing payment *methods*’ [my emphasis] notice on the website. Nevertheless, because I didn’t fully appreciate the value of subscribing and supplying a ‘disposable email address’ at the time of my free trial, before trying to subscribe and make a month payment, I opened a new user account. In doing that I got issued with another free trail – have it running now. Have been back to Relakks site several times to pay but still can’t do so. My point is you can try it for free and see what you think.

On the issue of how ‘secure and anonymous’ is Relakks I think it reasonable to ask what do you mean and/or want from ‘secure and anonymous’? My own feeling is that I’m not doing hellish much wrong. Yup, I do P2P, it’s the way the wind is blowing and a *great many* people participate and don’t see it as fundamentally wrong. But just how much security and anonymity do you need for that? My own guess is not a great deal (at least so far).

I feel a lot more comfortable about doing P2P via Relakks than without it and I get that comfort at a fairly reasonable price.

Relakks has warts, yes, a few but nothing is perfect and it’s a damn site better than just P2P-ing directly from your own ISP.

Give it a chance, it’s a good move in the right direction. In time I’m sure some of the warts will be ironed out but suspect that some are pretty well inevitable.

By: Lurch

Lurch — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:36:16 +0000

I signed up to Relakks about 4 months ago. I’ve paid for only 2 months of service (somehow getting about 2 months free). Relakks works great. I have a firewall setup to force all torrent connections through Relakks.

Only complaint is now I am trying to renew my account, and it appears their billing system is being looked over (for the good or bad).

Relakks is good! Dont hate because your too retarded to figure out some simple login instructions.

By: Relakks sucks

Relakks sucks — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:41:00 +0000

I tried Relakks after reading this article.

If you’re thinking of doing the same, DON’T!!

Relakks refuses to provide any support and you’re likely to need it.

I have signed up for a Relakks account twice. Both times I ended up needing support as the result of a billing problem.

The 2nd time I signed up for a 1 year account at a cost of $84 ($50 EUROS).

After paying (using Paypal), I was unable to login with the credentials they provided. I then noticed that when I logged into their webpage, it said that my account was “inactive” and my payment had “expired” even though there was a record that I had just paid $84 to set up the account.

I have emailed Relakks more than 3 times over the period of 2 weeks, each time waiting about 4 days for them to answer. No response.

The Relakks attitude about customer support is very apparent from their website: https://www.relakks.com/faq/qna/#6

They say they will NOT answer any emails that do not follow the exact guide defined on their website. If these people had any technical skills, they could create a support form on their website that could collect the information they want in the exact format they require, but no, they want you to put it into an email.

They also don’t support OpenVPN, the standard and trusted open source VPN solution, and instead require that you use PPTP which isn’t as secure.

Either way, it’s a moot point for users like me who paid but never were able to login due to non-existant support from Relakks.

Oh, if you sign up for a 1 year account and fail to use it for a month, they shut off your account.

Also, they have trouble with any login/passwords that are not alphanumeric, but LET YOU choose login/passwords that are NOT alphanumeric. How smart is that?

As a result, lots of users having problems with that issue as well.

Relakks sucks.

By: Karin A

Karin A — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:13:21 +0000

For everyone who wonder what Relakks is, or just want to know more… :

I saw a great interview with the owner and founder of Relakks, Jonas Birgersson. He is interviewed by Thomas Crampton and many interesting questions are answered.

Here is a link to the short interview: http://light.vpod.tv/?s=0.0.201364

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:36:50 +0000

From what I read, it seems that if they keep logs or through your credit card it seems possible for the MPAA or RIAA to nab you for file sharing. What I question is whether or not they would bother dealing with Sweden considering they have millions of people sharing through US ISPs in which case they know they can file suits against people.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:41:36 +0000

they are back-in-business…

By: japhy

japhy — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 11:27:34 +0000

Yes, I’m having the same problem.. Relakks suddenly seems to have disappeared.. what’s going on?

By: flash

flash — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:02:37 +0000

They are down?
Where’s my god damm money!
Argh, I hope they get back online and havent suddenly disbanded.

By: jonah

jonah — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:09:10 +0000

relakks site seems down today and their domain is for sale?

By: Hmmmm

Hmmmm — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:18:30 +0000

no payment possible!!!

By: really

really — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:09:13 +0000

Maybe the Swedish low is changed.

By: really

really — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:19:12 +0000

yes could you relakksdude. It’s interesting

By: phodifoo

phodifoo — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:35:04 +0000

relakksdude: you are lucky, they never replied to my email with the same question. could you post here this email from relakks that asserts this 3 month logs. this information is not available anywhere else.

thanks

By: relakksdude

relakksdude — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:49:08 +0000

I am also a customer and I mailed with them back and forth a bit.

The result is the following:

They keep log files. For 3 months.

Well, I doesn’t seem too relaxed to me anyway. They have room for improvement. Both technically and actually concerning their “privacy practices”

Peace out

By: frankie

frankie — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 01:13:58 +0000

“Relakks has pretty shady business practices. I signed up for an account and didn’t think to quickly note the greyed out username (a series of numbers auto-generated) that was on a web form. I rebooted my computer and alas, I now can’t use the account I paid EUR 5.00 for. Great.”

That seems like proof that they dont store personal information. They probably didnt give you the info because they dont have it either. Live and learn.

“Then there is of course the problem with the creditcard, but there is nothing that say that I use the service just because I paid for it.
Maybe I payed for a friend, in Sweden its up to the prosucutor to prove I’m guilty not the accused to prove he’s innocent.”

The solution is use a pre-paid credit card. That is anonymous.

By: me

me — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:09:58 +0000

[Quote]“I wonder what political repercussions the PPS is hoping to achieve by actively promoting a network which will incentivize users to engage in illegal activities…”[/Quote]

The common (mis?)conception – promoted by the PirateBay guys (“Steal This Film”) – is that the PP approves sharing “illegal” material or thinks the issue less important than privacy.

By: JudaZ

JudaZ — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:12:37 +0000

When you sign up to relakks they dont ask for any personal information, just an e-mail adress, any e-mail adress is fine .. for instace you can use http://www.slaskpost.se
that only save the emails and the email -adress you created one day.

Then there is of course the problem with the creditcard, but there is nothing that say that I use the service just because I paid for it.
Maybe I payed for a friend, in Sweden its up to the prosucutor to prove I’m guilty not the accused to prove he’s innocent.

By: Jism

Jism — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:04:17 +0000

Antix: Sounds like a personal problem…

By: antix

antix — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:37:45 +0000

Relakks has pretty shady business practices. I signed up for an account and didn’t think to quickly note the greyed out username (a series of numbers auto-generated) that was on a web form. I rebooted my computer and alas, I now can’t use the account I paid EUR 5.00 for. Great.

By: BitTorrent Addiction: The Thrill of the Chase | TorrentFreak

BitTorrent Addiction: The Thrill of the Chase | TorrentFreak — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:08:27 +0000

[...] For the more nervous torrenter, the file-sharing world can be an unforgiving place. As he learns of the many threats and people looking to profit from things like malware, he may start to put up more defenses. Terrified of getting into trouble, he may turn to services such as those offered by Peer Guardian or an anonymous VPN solution such as that offered by Relakks. [...]

By: IspeakSwedish

IspeakSwedish — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 01:54:40 +0000

I’m using it right now .. and it does give you a Swedish IP(dynamic),
torrents ,FTP ,email all work fine with it .
It’s true what you say ,the mafiaa could do most of those things
you say , the question is :
Can they convince the Swedish Police to ask a Swedish Judge for a warrant ?
You have to remember that Sweden is not the USA .
First ,the DMCA is not law of the land in Sweden
Second , Sweden does not have a “Patriot Act” or other overly
harsh laws allowing the authorities or mafiaa to spy on its citizens,including private companies .
In order for the Swedish Police to obtain a warrant they need to suspect you and show cause of a crime carrying a minimum sentence of 2 years jail . No normal non-profit private file-sharing comes even close to meet that requirement at the time being . There ARE of course a few things that DO meet them , but those are the things nobody should have a problem with , like child-abuse , national security
and other serious things .
Swedish ISP’s are not required to keep logs of traffic .They have privacy-laws that
do protect your privacy ,unlike certain other countries .
Third: Since you pay up-front, in Sweden it’s considered a cash-deal and no law
requires companies to keep records that can identify cash customers .
(your credit-card provider or bank will have records of the transaction)
and last : Swedes in general don’t like the USA playing world-police in their country .
So it really doesn’t matter how many “multiple peers” mafiaa let join the swarms ,
they won’t get the warrant in the first place .

By: DB

DB — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 04:33:23 +0000

It isn’t what they claim, but it is a very good deal for a VPN.

By: Snapphane

Snapphane — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:58:15 +0000

Well, the idea of Relakks, as I understand it is like this. Since they don’t have a “real” subscription, just a “pay as you go” kind of service, they don’t need to save the logs. Normal ISPs have to. This gives them a protection from people like RIAA (hope I spelled it right). When the police come knocking, they can just shake their heads and say; Sorry, no logs here.

Sure, they can still keep them ans screw you all over. But they don’t seem to have that kind of idea in there heads. And the legal protection makes them safer then your normal ISP. The fact that they are cheaper then other VPN-services doesn’t hurt either. Still, there are better ways to keep your data safe, but it’s a good way for them to make a stand point. Stop snooping, or we start hiding! =D

By: garcia

garcia — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:46:10 +0000

It sounds like the term “darknet” was misapplied. Let’s just drop that bit.

So it’s a VPN service which promises not to log your usage. If the promise is true, this is a perfect protection for the user, but not for Relakks. Relakks could be sued for infringement or whatever other illegal activity. If the promise is false, you’re only protected by the “due process” of Swedish laws.

Lets hope that Relakks responds with clarification and some real reassurance.