Data handling on send.anoni.net

send.anoni.net is the encrypted file transfer service the anoni.net community runs, built on Send. Files are encrypted in the browser before upload, so the operators cannot read them, but the server and Cloudflare in front of it still handle some data. Whether the service suits the files you want to send depends on what that data is, how long it is kept and who can access it. What the software does can be checked against its public source code; the server and Cloudflare settings are how we operate it.

Content out of the server's reach

Files are encrypted in your browser before they are uploaded, so the server only ever receives encrypted data. The key that decrypts them sits in the part of the share link after the #, and browsers never send that part to any server. The operators therefore have no access to a file's contents, name or type, and no way to decrypt it.

Data stored on the server

Once an upload finishes, the server keeps two things:

• The encrypted file
• A record holding the expiry time, the download limit and how many downloads have happened, a token the uploader uses to delete the file or change its settings, the encrypted file details (name, size and type are all inside the encryption), the data used to check that a downloader holds the key, and whether a password is set

The uploader picks the expiry: 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day or 7 days, with 1 day as the default. The download limit can be 1 to 5, 20, 50 or 100, with 1 as the default.

When the download limit is reached or the uploader deletes the file early, the file and its record are removed at once. On expiry, the record disappears immediately and the encrypted file is removed by a periodic cleanup up to about half an hour later.

The server also has the size of the encrypted file, which is only slightly larger than the original, and the times of uploads and downloads. Anyone who knows a file's ID can ask the server whether that file still exists and whether it has a password.

The password is a gate on the server, not an extra layer of encryption. Someone who has the share link must also enter the right password before the server returns the encrypted file.

Access logs

Since 6 October 2026, the nginx server in front of send.anoni.net no longer writes routine access logs for the service, and the logs collected before then have been deleted. Send itself does not log connections either. Its error messages contain no IP addresses, at most the ID and size of the file involved.

There are two exceptions:

• When a connection fails, for example during the few seconds the service restarts, nginx's error log records that connection's IP address and URL. Error logs are only written when something goes wrong, never for ordinary uploads and downloads.
• To stop any single source from overwhelming the service, the software counts requests per IP address in memory. Addresses and counts are never written to disk and are cleared whenever the service restarts.

Cloudflare

send.anoni.net sits behind Cloudflare, and every connection passes through it. Cloudflare receives your IP address, the time you connect and the URL, which includes the file ID but not the key after the #. How Cloudflare handles that data is governed by its own privacy policy.

We have turned off Cloudflare's network error reporting (NEL), so your browser does not report connection errors to Cloudflare. Pages from Send are also marked no-transform, and in our testing Cloudflare does not insert any script into them, so the only code your browser runs is Send's own.

Data stored in your browser

After an upload, your browser records the files you sent in localStorage (space the browser sets aside for a website's data), so you can come back later to check the download count or delete a file early. The entry holds the file name, the share link and key, the management token and the expiry time.

You can only manage a file from the browser you uploaded it with, and once you clear its browsing data you can no longer delete the file early or change its settings. On a shared or public computer, clear the browsing data when you are done, or use a private window from the start.

Send uses no cookies and no analytics or tracking tools.

Requests for data

If we are asked to hand over data, all we can provide is what is listed above and has not yet been deleted: the encrypted file, its record, and any connections that happened to land in nginx's error log. We do not have the file contents or the keys.

Extra precautions

If who sends files to whom is itself sensitive, connect with Tor Browser (see What Is Tor? for how to install and use it), and Cloudflare and we will only get a Tor exit relay's IP address. The share link contains the key, so anyone holding it can open the file. Send it to the recipient over an encrypted messenger such as Signal (the full process is in Sending Us Sensitive Material).

Contact and abuse reports

Send security issues and reports of abuse, such as someone using the service to spread harmful content, to [email protected]. If you need encryption, use the PGP public key on Stay informed. When reporting a file, include only the part of the share link before the #. We delete by file ID and do not need the key.

The other services the community hosts are listed on Services.