Iria

Source: IHT
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PARIS: Relakks, a tiny Web company based on the southern tip of Sweden, prides itself on its official "pirate" endorsements and its swashbuckling circumvention of online barriers erected by governments and corporations.

Not quite the stuff of Pirates of the Baltic Sea, perhaps, but the company has been a forceful proponent of a free and open Internet community. Relakks is planning its next move with a service - now in beta testing - that would allow computer users to shop online for national identity codes in a process known as "country shifting."

Relakks and other companies are part of a struggle pitting "hacktivists" against corporate interests that wall off Web sites to control territorial rights. These walls are meant to block people in Europe from downloading television fare from U.S. sites, for example, or bar Americans from viewing programs on sites in Europe.