The Mozilla foundation has launched a new service that looks promising, which is why I am bookmarking it here. Firefox Send allows you to send up to 1GB (or 2.5GB if logged in) files to someone else. This is the same as services like Dutch WeTransfer does, except it does so with end-to-end encryption.

Files are encrypted in your browser, before being send to Mozilla’s server until downloaded. The decryption key is contained in the download URL. That download URL is not send to the receiver by Mozilla, but you do that yourself. Files can be locked with an additional password that needs to be conveyed to the receiver by the sender through other means as well. Files are kept 5 minutes, 1 or 24 hours, or 7 days, depending on your choice, and for 1 or up to 100 downloads. This makes it suitable for quick shares during conference calls for instance. Apart from the encrypted file, Mozilla only knows the IP address of the uploader and the downloader(s). Unlike services like WeTransfer where the service also has e-mail addresses for both uploader and intended downloader, and you are dependent on them sending the receivers a confirmation with the download link first.

Firefox Send doesn’t send the download link to the recipient, you do

This is an improvement in terms of data protection, even if not fully water tight (nothing ever really is, especially not if you are a singled out target by a state actor). It does satisfy the need of some of my government clients who are not allowed to use services like WeTransfer currently.