Blacking out names: redacting documents with an AI that stays in Switzerland
A decision to publish, a case study for a conference, a file for an outside expert. Someone spends the afternoon with a black marker, and the street named in paragraph 12 still gives the person away. Who reads it twice?
The short answer: a local model reads the document and marks the names, addresses, dates of birth, account numbers and other details that point to a person, and a person decides what to black out. It runs on servers in Switzerland, Meow's or your own, so the unredacted original doesn't go through a public AI service. How much it catches in your documents is something to test, on your documents.
Checked against the law on 30 September 2026
Can anyone tell who it is?
- Identifiable is enough
Under the Data Protection Act, personal data is any information about a person who is identified or can be identified (art. 5 lit. a). Removing the name alone is not always enough.
- Details add up
A job, a street, a date: harmless one by one, together they can point to one person. The model marks them so a person can weigh them.
- Black on screen isn't gone
A black box drawn over a PDF can leave the text underneath, ready to copy. Real redaction removes it from the file.
How to test it
0 of 8 checked
With the version that was published or sent: that's your answer key.
Names, addresses, dates of birth, AHV and account numbers, and the details particular to your cases.
Let the model mark the originals, and compare with what your team blacked out.
A missed detail matters more than one marked for nothing: count them apart.
Jobs, rare illnesses, small villages: check it marks what points to one person.
Scans need text recognition first; note what it reads wrong.
Open the redacted PDF, search for a blacked-out name, copy the text: nothing should come back.
The model proposes; a person approves every redaction before the document goes out.
Ticked them all? The kit turns this into a test you can run next week: what it finds and what to check, a list of details to look for, the test plan, and what to count before sizing a server. Get the kit
What it finds, and what to check
The kit covers six kinds of detail. Two of them:
- Names of people
- Where to start; check initials, nicknames and signatures too.
- Addresses and places
- Check streets, small villages and building names, which can point to one person.
- Identity, account and phone numbers
- In the kit
- Dates of birth and other dates
- In the kit
- Indirect details, such as a job or an illness
- In the kit
- Scanned pages and images
- In the kit
Why it runs in Switzerland
The unredacted original is exactly the document that must not travel. Redacted on servers in Switzerland, operated for you, it doesn't pass through a public AI service, and only the version a person approves goes out.
What it needs
A server with a graphics card for the model, and text recognition for scanned documents. The Meow Academy's planner shows how models fit on hardware.
Where does your firm stand?
The self-check takes two minutes and says which first step fits. Or talk it through in a free 15-minute call.
Book a free 15‑minute call
Pick a time that suits you and confirm it from your inbox. If the time no longer works on our side, you hear from us the same working day.
What happens in 15 minutes
- 0–5 min
Your situation
What AI should do for you, and what it must never see.
- 5–10 min
What's possible
Which tasks can run privately, roughly what it costs, and what should stay human.
- 10–15 min
The next step
A test on your own documents, an assessment, or nothing yet.
Prefer to write? Send a message
Tell us what you'd like AI to do, and what it must never see. We'll tell you honestly what's possible, what it costs and what should stay human. No details yet? A hello is enough.