1. How the Data is stored When you create a file with a program like Microsoft® Word, the data is stored directly in the file itself. When you email your Word file to someone, they have the data and are in complete control of what they do with it. This leaves serveral ways in which your data could be accessed by the wrong person. They could: Print it Forward it Store it on their computer for a long time Briefile was designed to solve these problems. The key to being able to solve these problem is were the data is stored. When you create a briefile, your data is NOT stored in the actual briefile, but behind our web server. This fundamental difference allows the following solutions to the above problems. Printing is controlled by the person who created the briefile Forwarding can be eliminated by setting the briefile duration to 'Read Once' or limiting access to account users Briefiles expire and therefore are not accessible for long periods of time 1.1 When to use a Briefile The primary need for using a briefile, is when you need to share sensitive information with someone. You may still want to store your files in Microsoft® Word on your local computer, but when you need to share sensitive information with someone else, simply copy-and-paste the data into the Briefile program and create a briefile. Now, you only need to share your briefile, which allows others to access the information and allows you to control the duration that the information is available. An example of some information in Microsoft® Word copied-and-pasted into the Briefile program is shown in the following picture. 1.2. Compressed and Encripted Before the data within your briefile is sent to our web server for storage, it is compressed and encrypted. We compress the data to reduce the time it takes to transmit the data to and from our web server and we encrypt the data so it is impossible for someone to access the data by intercepting it or by breaking into our web server. The only way to open a briefile is with the Briefile program.