breach of confidentiality?

[wbarkho]

If I finish work and upload through Upwork, does Upwork have access to the files uploaded? If so, would that be a breach of confidentiality between the freelancer and employer?

[wbarkho]

bump up, no one replied

[prestonhunter]

re: "If I finish work and upload through Upwork, does Upwork have access to the files uploaded?"

Yes.

re: "If so, would that be a breach of confidentiality between the freelancer and employer?"

No.

Additional points:

- Don't worry about this. Upload personnel are not looking at your files. It is NOT a breach of confidentiality for you to send files to clients through the Upwork platform.

- If you ARE worried about this, then simply DON'T upload files to Upwork. Don't transfer files through Upwork. There is no rule whatsoever that requires you to do so. Use whatever means you and a client prefer to use in order to transfer files. USB flash drive, Dropbox, email, FTP, SFTP, iCloud, iDrive, Google Drive, AWS, Microsoft One Drive, WeTransfer, etc.

[wbarkho]

I actually did it before the client asked me not to. I cannot find a way to delete the file. Do you know of anyway to delete the file? What reason can I give the client to tell them that it is not a breach of contract?

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "I actually did it before the client asked me not to. I cannot find a way to delete the file. Do you know of anyway to delete the file? What reason can I give the client to tell them that it is not a breach of contract?"

Ah... Thank you for clarifying your situation.

So YOU are not worried about uploading a file through the Upwork platform. But a CLIENT is worried.

This client FAILED to clarify how he wanted you to transmit the file before you actually uploaded it to Upwork. And you failed to imagine that this could be a problem. In all honesty, most freelancers would have simply uploaded the file to Upwork and not worried about this at all.

This is an unusual situation.

There is no button or user interface element that allows you to delete the file.

I don't really see any options other than the following:

- Do nothing, and maybe that means the client is upset. I don't think he needs to be, but it seems clear what the client's preference is.

- Get Upwork Customer Support to delete the file.

I flagged this post. I think that an Upwork representative will help you soon.

My recommendation is to send the client a SHORT message:

"Larry: I have already confirmed that this is not a breach of confidentiality and that the file is secure. Nevertheless, I am going to have Upwork Customer Service delete the file from their secure server. I will keep you informed about this. Aside from that, you are welcome to contact Upwork and ask any questions you have about file security, or ask for additional help in deleting the file. You may ask questions here: community.upwork.com"

[petra_r]

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Wisam B wrote:

 What reason can I give the client to tell them that it is not a breach of contract?

---

Did you sign a contract that stated that you must not send files via Upwork?

You can delete the message the file(s) was/were attached to. Click on the cog to the right of the nessage, choose "delete".

Upwork could, if they wanted to, still retrieve the message but the client doesn't know that.

[wbarkho]

I don't see the option to delete the message. If customer support sees this and can delete, that would be great. And no, the NDA does not specifically state not to send work via Upwork.

[petra_r]

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Wisam B wrote:

I don't see the option to delete the message.

---

That is a message the client sent to you. That obviously wouldn't include any files you sent to the client and you obviously can't delete someone else's message.. Go to the message you sent to the client, which included the file.

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Wisam B wrote:

 If customer support sees this and can delete, that would be great. 

---

Why would you want to make sure that Upwork see the file if the client specifically doesn't want that?

[wbarkho]

It's the message I sent to the client. None of the messages have the attachment but rather a link to the contract which contains the attachment.

[petra_r]

Ah, so you submitted through the contract. 

Yes, wait until Upwork react to Preston flagging

[PradeepH]

Hello Wisam,

I encourage you to refer to Upwork Privacy Policy for general information about how the information users share on Upwork is collected, used and disclosed. To assist specifically with the file you’re referring to, we’ll have one of our agents reach out to you directly.

Thank you.

Pradeep.