--- title: "Why the file stays yours · Privatta" description: "No company keeps a copy of it on the way, and nobody can push a file onto your computer." url: "https://royalsoftworks.com/products/privatta/why-it-stays-yours/" source: "https://royalsoftworks.com" format: "markdown" note: "Markdown rendering of the HTML page at `url`. Same content, same canonical URL." --- Privatta · 2 of 4 # Why the file stays yours. No company keeps a copy of it on the way, and nobody can push a file onto your computer. The difference ## Everyone else keeps a copy of your file. Send a file the usual way and it is uploaded to a company's servers first, then downloaded by the other person. In between, your file is sitting on a computer you do not own, for as long as they choose to keep it. Privatta skips that step. Over the internet a tiny open-source service does nothing but introduce the two machines to each other, then forgets them — it never sees the file itself. Everyone else Via a server You You ☁ Their cloud Them Them Your file is copied onto a company's server, and waits there until they decide to delete it. Privatta Direct You You Them Them Your file goes straight across, locked the whole way. There is no copy to leave behind. The safety net ## Nothing lands on your computer unless you ask for it. Privatta has no way for someone to push a file at you. They can show you a list and say “here, take this” — but you have to reach out and take it, every single time. That one rule means a virus or an unwanted file simply cannot arrive on its own. Being sent things What Privatta makes impossible Normally the sender decides what lands on your machine, and when. That is how unwanted and malicious files arrive — you never got a say. Going and getting them What Privatta does instead Only you can start a download. The other side can offer you a list of files — and that is all they can do until you choose one. For your IT team - **Enforcement** — The host process only answers list/get requests the connecting peer sends — there is no command path that pushes a file to a peer - **Applies to** — Every transport, identically: LAN and internet (P2P) alike [Previous Every route a file can take](https://royalsoftworks.com/products/privatta/routes/) [Next See it running](https://royalsoftworks.com/products/privatta/in-action/) [Back to Privatta overview](https://royalsoftworks.com/products/privatta/)