Re: Accessing documents on the Web--how to keep it secure

["Steven J. Owens" <puff -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

Nora Merhar writes:
> We are working on an area for our company web site where our customers
> could download our product documentation in PDF format. This area
> needs to be secure--accessible only to customers with passwords.
>
> We are having a hard time figuring out who will be responsible for
> handing out the passwords, and have thought that an automated system
> (customers fill out a form, which they e-mail to a program that
> compares their information with some sort of database and assigns a
> password) might work for us. I am sure that something like this
> exists, and wondered if anyone out there has used or is using such a
> program to give people access to documents on the Web.

     I'm coding a web site like this today, although it simply uses an
approval process.  The only real trick to making it automatic is
having the database to check.  How straightforward that is depends on
what format & hardware your database is in now, or how you want to get
the data into a database.

     If you're interested in having somebody build a site like this
for you, drop us a line.  The veep's email is mark -at- bravenewworlds -dot- com -dot- 
I'll CC this to him so he isn't mystified as to what you're talking
about.

> Nora
> nmerhar -at- charlesindustries -dot- com
>
> p.s. Yes, I realize that competitors could falsify their addresses and
> get a password.

     I'd generally recommend some sort of verification process, or at
the very least, human oversight.  But really, worrying about
competitors snagging a copy of your docs is a bit over-the-top. Hell,
if nothing else, they could just buy a set.

Steven J. Owens
puff -at- netcom -dot- com


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