NetFiles Privacy Policy

NetFiles is engineered as a local-first, privacy-respecting Windows desktop application. This document details how authentication, cloud storage, SSH connections, and peer-to-peer (P2P) swarms operate.

Effective Date: November 2026 • Applicable to NetFiles Desktop App

Zero Remote Telemetry

We do not track your clicks, collect file metadata, or log usage analytics. All operations stay strictly on your device.

Local Hardware DPAPI

Tokens and credentials are encrypted directly using Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI) tied to your local user hardware profile.

Direct Swarm P2P

Downloading P2P torrents actively seeds data blocks back to swarm peers in accordance with decentralized BitTorrent protocol.

1. Cloud Storage: Google Drive & Dropbox (PKCE OAuth)

NetFiles integrates with Google Drive and Dropbox via standard OAuth 2.0 with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE).

Direct-to-Provider Authentication: PKCE verification happens directly between your desktop client and Google/Dropbox servers. Automuk operates no intermediate proxies, relay services, or credential harvesting servers.
Encrypted Local Storage: OAuth access and refresh tokens returned by Google and Dropbox are stored exclusively on your local workstation, secured with Windows DPAPI hardware-backed encryption.
On-Demand Streaming: File content and folder structures are streamed strictly when you view or transfer files, leaving no lingering remote audit trail on Automuk infrastructure.

2. Microsoft OneDrive: Local Sync Directory

Unlike Google Drive and Dropbox, OneDrive support in NetFiles operates through your existing local OneDrive installation on Windows:

Local-Only Directory Operations: NetFiles interacts directly with the local OneDrive folder provided by the official Windows OneDrive client. We do not require, implement, or provide a PKCE OAuth flow for OneDrive.
Zero Account Credential Exposure: Because NetFiles reads and writes via Windows Win32 filesystem hooks to your local OneDrive directory, NetFiles never handles, stores, or sees your Microsoft account password or OAuth tokens.

3. Remote Servers (SSH & SFTP)

For remote SSH and SFTP connections, normal standard privacy and industry-grade cryptography are rigorously maintained:

Direct End-to-End Encrypted Tunnel: All terminal sessions, file transfers, and remote commands travel over standard SSH-2 tunnels (using ChaCha20-Poly1305 or AES-GCM) directly between your PC and the destination server IP.
Keys and Passphrases: Private keys (RSA, Ed25519) and SSH connection profiles remain strictly within your local Windows environment and are never transmitted to any third-party or Automuk server.

4. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Downloads, Seeding & Search API

Important Notice Regarding Seeding and Swarm Participation:Downloading files through NetFiles connects your computer to decentralized BitTorrent swarms. Under the BitTorrent protocol, downloading will let you share and upload downloaded chunks to peer-to-peer (P2P) processes when seeding.

When utilizing the built-in P2P libtorrent engine:

Data Sharing During Seeding: As pieces of a file are received and verified by your client, your client makes those pieces available to other peers downloading the same content. You can adjust seeding ratios, limit upload bandwidth, or pause seeding at any time within NetFiles.
Swarm Visibility: In any peer-to-peer protocol, your public IP address is shared with connected peers and distributed hash table (DHT) nodes. NetFiles provides a network adapter binding feature (kill switch) so you can bind P2P traffic strictly to your VPN interface.
Search API URL Requirement: Even though the NetFiles application holds native P2P downloading and seeding services, it still requires users to configure and use a search API URL to index and query swarms. NetFiles does not operate a centralized tracker or index directory; search queries are dispatched solely to your configured endpoint without interception or analytics.

5. Data Retention & User Rights

Because all settings, bookmarks, credentials, and cache files reside locally on your Windows installation (under %APPDATA%\NetFiles), you retain complete sovereign control over your data:

Uninstalling NetFiles or deleting its application data directory completely removes all configuration entries, stored tokens, SSH host profiles, and search settings from your computer.

Questions about NetFiles privacy or security implementation?

Reach out to our engineering and security team directly.

Contact arijit@autom.uk

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