The startup du jour is KeepYouSafe, a “secure storage network for your vital personal information like medical records, drivers license copies, passports, wills, credit card copies, financial records, insurance papers, basically everything in your wallet and personal filing folders that you deem important.” (hat tip: Web Worker Daily)
The Founders blogged their mantra the day before Launch:
“Don’t guess what people want
After 9/11 and even more after Katrina we heard from people that they wanted a secure, convenient place important “stuff”…
…We did some market research and found out that people really did want a trusted place online to keep important “stuff”. Not a backup of their whole computer, just those super critical records and files that they could not live without.”
OK, I get it, this is what people want, after all, they said so 
That said, how many different online safety deposit boxes do we need? More importantly, how many overlapping services do we want to pay for?
Once you scan in your passport, birth certificate …etc – they are just files, nothing more, nothing less. Just like your work documents, music, photography. I’ve previously wondered why ProtectMyPhotos wouldn’t protect ALL my files – after all, it already does photos and office documents – and the same applies here.
At $36 a year (for unspecified capacity) KeepYouSafe is not that far from the likes of ProtectMyPhotos and Mozy. In fact considering the much less anticipated traffic (how often does your passport change?) it’s relatively expensive. I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now all of these services would be alike: complete file protection services.
Update (1/23): Mike Murray noticed a few things that completely escaped my attention:
Nowhere on the site is there any identifying information. This could be an innocent oversight, but it’s big; if you want me to trust you with my data, at least I should know who you are. (I gave the same advice to the otherwise excellent Brainkeeper team the other day).
Their terms of use abdicate all responsibility:
KEEPYOUSAFE.COM AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, INVESTORS, MEMBERS, PARTNERS AND LICENSORS MAKE NO WARRANTY … (vi) THAT THE DATA AND FILES YOU STORE IN YOUR ACCOUNT WILL NOT BE LOST OR DAMAGED OR EXPOSED.
Mike sums it up:
“Please scan and send me all of your important data… I’ll protect them, I promise. (But my terms of service say that I don’t have to.)“
Hello, Eric Wolbrom, Co-Founder of KeepYouSafe.com, here. Just wanted to respond to some of the issues you raised in your post on our Secure Online Safe Deposit Box service.
>Once you scan in your passport, birth certificate …etc – they are just files, nothing more, nothing less. Just like your work documents, music, photography.
I respectfully disagree. If your stored-online music or photography files are accessed by a criminal, your identity isn’t likely to be stolen, your financial, business and personal affairs aren’t endangered, in most cases your life continues on pretty much as it had been. If your work documents are hacked or exposed it may or may not impact your company, depending on what information they contain, but bottom-line: not all files are equally important.
>I’ve previously wondered why ProtectMyPhotos wouldn’t protect ALL my files ….
You’d have to ask them. But ProtectMyPhotos doesn’t offer the same services that we do – in addition to securely storing your files KeepYouSafe will soon offer secure document sharing and private message boards that family and friends can use to communicate in case of an emergency. We plan to add additional features over time, and also provide information on preparing for a disaster. We may use some of the same technology as ProtectMyPhotos, but to different ends. And you don’t have to download client software to use KeepYouSafe.
>At $36 a year (for unspecified capacity) KeepYouSafe is not that far from the likes of ProtectMyPhotos and Mozy.
For a limited time, we are offering a free Online Safe Deposit Box; if you remain an active member, it will remain free forever. The free boxes offer enough space – 2MBs — to make sure your most important information and records are safe and accessible anywhere, anytime. And as we note on our website, the larger box ($36 a year) provides 25x the storage space of the free box.
>In fact considering the much less anticipated traffic (how often does your passport change?) it’s relatively expensive.
In our beta tests and market research, no one said that they felt $36 a year was overpriced.
>I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now all of these services would be alike: complete file protection services.
Perhaps. But since we focus on preparing for a disaster we can offer services and information targeted to that purpose. ProtectMyPhotos isn’t going to tell you how to prep for a natural disaster or offer you access to vital information in case of an emergency, nor should they. And we’re not going to focus on providing new ways to view and share photos. There is something to be said for doing one thing, and doing it well.
Eric,
First of all, thanks for responding so exensively:-)
Although I did not go into details, we actually agree in a number of things. I do recognize you are going to develop a niche/ specialty service – just like ProtectMyPhotos did in a different area (photo manipulation, viewing… etc).
My point is very user-centric: I see no problem going to different sites for information, but I would hate to have parts of my files at a generic backup place, the photos at another one, and key documents at yet another one.
I do see the value in what you’re doing, but I really wonder if eventually you and all others will have several service layers/packages: backup/restore the core, value-added services on top. Here are two scenarios:
A: I already have all my files protected elsewhere, but I do like your diaster preparedness services – would you not want to sell them separately (at one point in the future…)
B: I start using your service completely, but after a while I wonder why I am sending my other files (documents) to another online “vault”. Would you not allow me to store all my files at a higher rate?
Fear does sell. Taking a commodity (on-line storage) and marketing a targeted, niche version of it for a specific identified need might be a good marketing strategy.