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Privnote

"Privnote Sends Private Self Destructing Notes Mission Impossible Style"
– Addictive Tips

Have you ever wanted to send some highly confidential information (like credit card information or root passwords) over the Internet and were afraid others could be sniffing your traffic?

Well, we have, that's why  at Ikatu we came up with Privnote, a tool for sending private notes over the net in a very easy and secure way. 

When we released the service back in 2008, Privnote made it to the front page of Digg! And it created quite a furor and some competitive services flourished; maybe even somehow inspiring services like Snapchat! 

One of our main concerns with the Privnote service, was the issue of trust. One on side we used technology:

• SSL transport security encryption mechanism to make sure the note contents never leaves your browser (neither arrives at the recipient browser) in plain text.
• Self-destruction so that when the note is read (by clicking the link) no one else who clicks the link could ever read it. 

• Privnote makes use of data minimisation measures: No extra information besides notes' contents and users' IP addresses is required to use the service.
• Messages are deleted upon initial retrieval or after 30 days if they have not been retrieved at all. 
• IP addresses are not stored but only used for the purpose of communication.
• The service guarantees the confidentiality of the notes by using both, a browser and a server site encryption.
• Privnote uses technology so that even a system administrator could not read notes.

And if the note was not read by the intended recipient, at least with Privnote he/she will known that someone else did it and that the content was compromised.

But we went beyond the use of best available technology practices. We wanted our system to be audited by a third party, so people won't just take our word. So we spent two full years to obtain Privnote's European Privacy Seal back in September 2010 for Certified Privnote. 

"The privacy certificate aims to facilitate an increase of market transparency for privacy relevant products and an enlargement of the market for Privacy Enhancing Technologies and finally an increase of trust in IT."  – About EuroPriSe 

Today Privnote is a trusted service for tens of thousands of people daily from all over the world.

Privnote made it to the front page of Digg on July 6th, 2008.