[Q]: When are sent files deleted from servers?
pedrodelbosque opened this issue · comments
Question
When sending media files, an option to "revoke" the file is displayed. If the receiver had not downloaded the file yet, he will not be able to do so anymore. I assume that now the file is deleted from the server.
Even if the receiver downloaded the file, the "revoke" option still appears. Aren't files deleted from the server once they are completely downloaded once?
As a side note, do these files expire? If I send a video to a user, who uninstalled simplex (without deleting his profile), and who will never return, how many months will the file stay on servers? Are they eventually purged? If so, is date metadata being kept?
Just to clarify, when I'm talking about "files on server", I do understand that the files themselves are encrypted, and reside as blobs of high-entropy data there.
Aren't files deleted from the server once they are completely downloaded once?
No, as the server doesn't know how many times it's supposed to be received, even when sending to direct contacts the client creates like 4 addresses to receive, to reduce metadata.
Also, in many large groups it never happens that all members ever receive.
do these files expire
Yes, after 2 days - see privacy policy. Considering to increase to 3. Once it's removed, no metadata is kept, with the caveat of rotating append only log - can stay there for some time (~1-2 weeks) until the server is restarted and log is compacted. This is also explained in privacy policy.
Just to clarify, I assume right now we're relying on good faith of users not to stress servers?
What happens if someone starts uploading 500GB files every hour? IP ban?
Has this been thought through?
@epoberezkin Any comment? I'd worry about this being eventually exploited. What would the response be? Rate limiting for all users?
Just to clarify, I assume right now we're relying on good faith of users not to stress servers? What happens if someone starts uploading 500GB files every hour? IP ban? Has this been thought through?
Currently file upload limit is 1 gb.