VsiFax and filePro -- frustration! --- RE: Filepro-list Digest, Vol 79, Issue 39

[Fairlight]

Y'all catch dis heeyah?  Bob Rasmussen been jivin' 'bout like:
> I'm sure you must sleep sometime, but...

Lately, between 5-7am and 12-2pm.  Although I think I'm for bed early
tonight, not feeling well today and I'm going to have to either go to bed
willingly soon, or put on some Ministry to keep from passing out and waking
up with QWERTY stamped on my forehead..

> It MUST be more secure than an analog phone line, I would think. Maybe 
> not.

Oh, definitely.  All you'd need is a tap on the line hooked to a modem
modified to handshake mid-stream.  Modems go through an elaborate handshake
at the start, but they also fall up/down without complete retrains.  Which
means you only have so many permutations to deal with.  Should be -really-
easy to sniff an analog line with the right gear.

I'm trying to remember what I read that indicated it may be possible to
decode modem transmissions by analysing the send/receive LED activity.  I
can't remember if that was something really experimental someone pointed me
at, of if I read it in a work of fiction.  I think it was real, though.

Actually, it -is- real...thought so:  

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.18.5222%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&rct=j&q=analyze%20modem%20LED%20tap&ei=NYp8TOiABcrcngeOzqWdCw&usg=AFQjCNF3B_7mCBvOyvsRaaY8FA4GT5mFmw&cad=rja

> Finally, I don't want to discount the idea of posting a document on an 
> HTTPS server and notifying a user about it. We are working on some 
> enhancements in that direction too. Someone even suggested we add a 
> capability of text-messaging a recipient that their document is ready: 
> "You've got invoice!"

Well, to get files onto an HTTPS server, you'd need to either, implement
ftp, scp, or something like a WebDAV solution, or I guess configure httpd
to allow PUT.  I know the command exists, but I've never even tried to use
it, if you can imagine that.  I've never even seen it enabled on a server.
I'd actually have to read the docs to find out how it's supposed to work.

SMS Gateways could make the text messages easier to implement.  I'd go with
existing gateways rather than design it from scratch.

> There's just no end to this!

This is why software is never fully done.  It's also why 640KB of RAM is
not enough.  :)

mark->
-- 
Audio panton, cogito singularis.