October 31, 2006
Online backups
I'm surprised no one thought of this before, but an outfit called "Keep You Safe" is marketing their online safe deposit Boxes (sponsored link). Basically, you can scan copies of important documents like insurance declarations pages, credit cards and statements, mortgages, titles, etc. and they'll store them indefinitely. They've got a free six-month trial, and then it's $3/month after that. It's also backed up in Amsterdam, so the danger of natural disasters is low.
The encryption they claim to use appears pretty good, so security shouldn't be a problem, but if you forget your password, you're in trouble, because they don't know it.
The major drawback here is that you can't store actual documents. So if you're looking for a place to keep your passport or important, deep-storage backup tapes, this isn't a good solution. They're also a little disingenuous about this, featuring pictures of passports etc. on their site, when all you can really do is store copies.
Still, even with that fairly significant proviso, it's a sound idea which I imagine lots of people will find useful.
