Last month a client sent me a PDF with sensitive financial data and asked me to convert it to a spreadsheet. I Googled "free PDF to CSV converter" and picked the first result.
Then I read their privacy policy. Section 4.3 granted them a license to "store, process, and analyze" uploaded content for "service improvement." That's corporate-speak for "we read your files."
What I Found
I tested 10 popular online converters by monitoring network requests during file uploads. Every single one sent the file to a remote server. Only one disclosed this clearly in the UI — the rest buried it in 15-page privacy policies.
The Alternative
