Re: CD ROM encrypting

At 20:25 15/02/00 -0800, Daryl Fernquist wrote:
>1. On their website I use Cold Fusion and password protect some areas which
>are for "salesmen only"--to view the current proprietary information of the
>Company's products.  They would want this area to continue to be protected.
>I don't see how--as anyone could use a simple explorer window to view the
>information.
>
>2. This then poses the question, could we "encrypt" the CD ROM so it could
>only be viewed by a browser but--without great trouble--the other areas
>would be unviewable.
>
>3. They would also like the CD ROM to expire/time out after six months with
>a "message" explaining they should contact the Company for a new version.

You might want to investigate a multimedia answer, rather than a strict 
"HTML"-based system.

Director, from Macromedia, is capable of doing this!  It is fully compliant 
with HTTP headers, and the code to create a "timing-out" or expiration 
function is simple enough that even I could handle.  The database could be 
password protected and the password hidden within the Director programming 
(I'm not 100% sure on the database link-up but I'm sure it's possible).

An alternative is to store non-sensitive information on the CDROM for 
customers to use in conjunction with their browser of choice and link from 
the CDROM to an online source for the sensitive stuff, thus preserving the 
current password-based security.


Chris Higgs <c.higgs(at)landfood.unimelb.edu.au>
Institute of Land and Food Resources
University of Melbourne http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au

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