Users have complete control over their shared files

Feb 7, 2015 11:16 GMT  ·  By

Files shared with friends on Facebook can now be set an expiration date ensuring their destruction whenever their owner so decides, through a free service that promises complete privacy of the information.

Provided by DSTRUX, the service allows the user to control the data they share online even if it is delivered to its intended recipient through social networking platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.

Links can be both public and private

Basically, the shared content never reaches the datacenters of a third party as it is uploaded to DSTRUX’s cloud, where it stays available until the owner decides to delete it or it reaches a time limit defined by the owner in terms of days, hours and minutes.

The information can be shared (a 50MB size cap is currently enabled) only with specific recipients through links sent to a Facebook friend’s profile or their email address. The prerequisite for viewing the content is that all parties are signed into DSTRUX.

The dashboard for the service allows viewing the files that have been shared, received or forwarded through the service. Notifications about the activity are also available.

Users have the power to delete their content from the web

DSTRUX has been created with privacy in mind and to prevent links generated for specific contacts from being accessed by other parties than the ones intended. However, there is also a feature that generates a link that can be shared with anyone; of course, the owner still has total control over the self-destruction time.

“Until now, anything shared on a social networking platform resides on the Internet forever in some way,” CEO and founder of the company Nathan Hecht says in a news release.

He says that DSTRUX makes sure that the data is permanently erased from the Internet, because it is not managed by other parties. “DSTRUX lets the user maintain ownership of their content for as long as they want it to be viewed,” the CEO added.

The service touts protecting the files it manages from being downloaded, copied, printed or altered in any way. It is unclear how this can be done in the case of images or messages, since there are plenty of programs for taking snapshots of what is displayed on the monitor and there is little to prevent them.

DSTRUX presentation:

DSTRUX dashboard (3 Images)

DSTRUX dashboard
DSTRUX file access timerImages can be blurred to protect from prying eyes
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