In September, IMY directed harsh criticism at the company Verifiera for selling information to companies and the public about the mental health of Swedes.
This is done in a database that collects court decisions and public documents, which also includes people who have received compulsory treatment for mental illness or addiction.
In its decision, the IMY states that the information relating to forced psychiatric treatment and addiction is privacy-infringing, and people found in Verifiera's database have testified about difficulties in finding jobs.
Verifiera has been given eight weeks to remove the sensitive information.
The company, in turn, has said it will appeal the decision, arguing that the information it is selling is public record.
SEK 1.3 million in public funds
Despite the fact that the service is criticized for violating privacy, it is used by a wide range of public actors.
When SVT checks which municipalities, regions and authorities have used Verifiera in 2021, we get 13 hits.
In total, these have spent SEK 1.3 million in public funds on the service last year.
The Västra Götaland region spent the most money, a total of SEK 331,066.
According to Peter Toomar, the region's security strategist, the service is used, among other things, for background checks when recruiting personnel to work in security-classified operations.
He believes that it has been justified to use the service, despite the criticism of privacy-infringing information.
- Based on the safety protection, it is absolutely ethical to use it.
We assess, among other things, a vulnerability aspect of the person.
It is relevant in the security protection work to get that information.
Region Västmanland critical
The majority of government users state in emails to Kulturnyheterna that they used the service in connection with recruitment.
A few also say they use Verify to assess the security risk of people who have threatened their staff.
Region Västmanland spent SEK 10,181 on Verifiera in 2021, but chose to end its subscription even before IMY's criticism.
The region's head of security, Hans Löhman, is critical of the fact that a region would have to share sensitive information, such as for example compulsory psychiatric care.
- Precisely that type of information feels very doubtful.
It is the interview that is part of the security assessment and it is very important that you have good quality.
From our way of working, in that case any side tracks emerge that you have to deal with.
But you don't need this service for that, he tells Kulturnyheterna.
In the clip at the top, the Västra Götaland region and the Västmanland region talk about how they used Verifiera.
Read more about which other municipalities, regions and authorities have used Verify in the fact box at the bottom.
Javascript is disabled
Javascript must be enabled to play video
Read more about browser support
""At first they were positive and then at the end they disappeared from the process".