I received an unexpected comment, on my very stale blog from someone that claimed to think that my blog entries were 'inquisitive'. Not an adjective I'd use for my previous blog entries logged here. Anyhow, the commenter on his blog had a link to filequota.com. Which purports to be:
"Motivation is a free program that allows you to store and access any type of file, in any format using your current e-mail account. It uses your POP3 email address or IMAP email address to allow you to store files remotely for yourself, or share them with a friend!"
And it supports:
"some supported services include:
Google's Gmail
AIM Mail
Any
IMAP Email Account
Any POP3 Email Account
The first two services provide the most stable and largest amount of storage for free anywhere on the internet. These E-mail services have been proven to be the most stable and reliable Web mail services on the internet today."
Sacrificing security for convenience?
Apparently you can download the client and *ENTER YOUR PASSWORDS FOR YOUR ACCOUNTS* and use 'motivation' for remote storage. And if you need more space: " If you need more space just sign up for another e-mail account, it really is that simple." (Note all Quotes are from the 'filequota' site as of this writing.)
Hello! McFly! What is the supposed value of this for the end-user? You download a separate program and use it to access your mail? At *BEST* worthless. At worst, you've just given outsiders access to your mail.....
In doing a little quick google in 'filequota' and 'motivation' I didn't find much information. If I were more security conscious, I'd probably do a lookup on the hosting sites. Perhaps I'm being overly suspicious, it's possible these sites help provide a service to make storing information online more seamless than using gmail. OTOH it seems to me that these services could be phishing for identities. I generally only enter my passwords on the MAIN site itself. I would not feel comfortable entering my google account login and password on *any* site except google....
Hmm. Maybe I'm over-reacting. On later checking it looks like this is a custom client software.
Another enterprising developer has a different approach:a Windows explorer extension which make gmail appear as a virtual drive. Similar I guess to a plugged in USB drive (Flash/thumb drive/memory stick). Not too bad of an idea, though again if the developer were unscrupulous, presumably he could bury in his application a keystroke logger that silently sent him information. Apparently this instance is not malicious, but has had some problems reported. Apparently there are other user developed utilities of similar capability. The idea is intriguing. Trust tho' is an issue IMO.
I can understand the desire to back up information online. Indeed after a troubling Yahoo News article (Published: Tue Jan 10, 8:00 AM ET byline: John Blau, IDG News Service)
Excerpt:
"Opinions vary on how to preserve data on digital storage media, such as optical CDs and DVDs. Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland, has his own view: If you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few years, use magnetic tapes to store all your pictures, videos and songs for a lifetime.
"Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD," Gerecke says. "There are a few things you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more."
The problem is material degradation. Optical discs "...
After reading the Yahoo article, I'm eager to find a viable reliable long term backup solution. And unlike the 'authorities' cited in the article, I don't think tapes are a viable alternative. Tapes have their own problems... So an online backup solution does sound appealing. Perhaps I need a Maid?
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