Re: Possible solution? (e-mail parcel vs. FTP)

[Matt Martini <martini () invision net>]

On Fri, 25 May 2001, E.B. Dreger wrote:

> Methinks that it's proxy time.  Why not hack the popular MTAs so that they
> take attachments, spool them in a Web-accessible directory, then modify
> the message.
>
> Just like e-cards...
>
>       ATTACHMENTS:
>
>       1. http://some.domain.tld/path/to/sample/file.jpg
>       2. http://another.place.tld/second-attachment.doc
>
> Go to the link, receive a warning that they must save the file after
> download, that it will be deleted after successful download.  Or delete it
> after a few days.  Or maybe users could manage their Web spool, deleting
> messages as they please.
>
> There are some details to work out, but is the "FTP upload" not a task
> that we could automatically perform for users?

This is actually one of the more constructive comments in the (off-topic for
nanog) thread.

I don't email is the correct vehicle for large documents (size > 1M), but
getting the public to do the correct-but-more-difficult thing is a losing
battle.

If ISPs took it upon themselves to convert attachments to http/ftp
on-the-fly and transparently to users you would have a sol'n that should
work for everyone.

Authentication could easily be added via MD5 checksums (ala ezmlm) and
encription could even be added via https.

For those of us that want to change the world, it's much easier to take
action and change the system then to try and convert all the users.

Matt


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 Matthew E. Martini, PE        InVision.com, Inc.   (631) 543-1000 x104
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