Mnemonica - File Exchange Is Not What It Used To Be

A fantastic article from Mnemonica all about file sharing and hows its evolved!

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File Sharing Is Not What It Used To Be

File Sharing is not what it used to be. In the beginning there was FTP, the File Transfer Protocol born in 1971 to move data through the Internet. It was the legendary port 21 of the TCP/IP connection where the server listened to our requests and then opened the data channel on which files travelled from one host to another. Even though this new protocol lacked security it gave us considerable powers, upload and download, management of remote file systems, resumption of interrupted transfers. FTP has now become a bit like radio, never completely going out of fashion. FTP clients are still used from time to time, and when they are there is a certain nostalgic feel to the process. It may come as a surprise that it feels so sentimental to get back in touch with something technical as the fundamentals of networks. But after all, it's nostalgia for a past that seems long gone. For most of us today, the internet has become invisible. A name, an idea. In fact, after the GUI client freed users from the rigors of using the command line – and the first instances of ‘The Cloud’ began to be seen. The first service of this new genre that entered our daily life was MediaFire, born in 2005, it offered virtual storage, free in the basic version, where you could upload files directly via the web browser. At the time it gave the impression of a real trailblazer! Its family included the famous RapidShare, and even earlier the infamous giant Megaupload, with its Megabrothers. Alongside these forerunners of cloud storage, which were in continuity with FTP as they showed a folder system on a remote host, a second strand emerged: services that presented themselves as email extensions for large files, and could be a big problem for SMTP. Let's not forget that way back when email was the main means of communication, finding it blocked by a heavy file attached carelessly was more than enough reason to find it blocked which could result in an undeliverable mail with important information YouSendIt, established in 2004, allowed users the ability to upload files and enter email addresses through a web form, this resulted in it being, sent to the recipients via a download link, with a security time to download before the link expired. Any trace of the old FTP was expelled from the user experience since the actual data transfer operations remained hidden behind the scenes. No virtual space to manage, the user could point to the only available goal, passing data to another user. This very well-defined and functionally constrained process proved to be a winner in the face of an immense population of consumers who flooded the internet. Users who had no knowledge of computing and just needed to perform a conceptually simple task such as moving an object from one place to another were able to transfer files successfully. This is the approach adopted by WeTransfer, a company founded in 2009 that has now become the generalist file transfer application of choice. “Send me a WeTransfer” is now part of everyday language. Real-world use cases have continued to hold up the separation between the two methods, specialised digital transfer file services like WeTransfer vs accessorised storage services like Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, etc. Despite the fact that the two areas increasingly tend to overlap in terms of functionality, with WeTransfer granting storage and cloud drives delivering files from one user to another. The distinction between the two methods is particularly visible in our industry, cloud-based media asset management (MAM) platforms. These are vertical applications dedicated to professional use in audio-visual production. A forefront on which gigantic masses of data are generated, with up to hundreds of TB’s per single product and typical traffic being made up of multiple products – meaning the data transfer sizes can be huge. Rivers of data that must pass through the agile workflows typical in the creative industries are subjected to review and evaluation on the one hand, and to processing on the other. These can be a spread across a variety of subjects belonging to many organizations, all requiring the highest degree of security. The use cases on the two operational branches are well distinguishable. The action proper to the first branch is the viewing of streaming materials and involves a lot of users with negligible computer skills. On the other hand, we find highly trained technicians working on high-resolution data, and in this instance the main function of the platform is to move files from one processing stage to another. Apart from the first act, which is always of course an upload to the cloud - either directly from the camera on the set, or from a hard disk in the lab - the subsequent processes somehow follows the division between the two lineages historically derived from FTP that we saw above. In fact, in MAM we find both, in the same platform or with delivery delegated to specialised third-party services, such as IBM's Aspera or Signiant's MediaShuttle. The latter, however, constitute additional IT systems to add to the stack, with the inevitable increase in security threats. Normally, MAM for audio-visuals is therefore carried out on two tracks. First, data technicians upload and organize clips in folders, as in a classic remote file system, Mediafire style. Then come views and downloads, and here the YouSendIt/WeTransfer style applies, sharing via links in the folders themselves or playlists prepared by the staff. A good example of the two methods we can respectively mention are Frame.io’s folder sharing, and Moxion’s playlinks. All of these are links can open the door to the recipients of small, reserved video worlds, mini-portals where you can find only the clips to watch and/or download, as an operator has prepared them. These links have a miraculous virtue, convenience! Just click the button in the email and you get your reward. Convenience, however, is the vestige of mass consumerism, and we're not in a consumer world at all here. The stakes are as high as the value of that data, pieces of new movies and TV series that will be marketed worldwide. That's why MAM's platforms give you a choice of different levels of security, such as password protection, or login-only access. The relevant fact is that the link can also be sent in plain text via email. We understand from experience that this is a concession made to very insistent demand, that of many end-users who want the lowest possible, zero effort access threshold. Unfortunately, it's a little deal with the devil that underestimates or tries to forget the dangers of the potential prices to be paid. The mere existence of this possibility is a kind of invitation to the worst practices on the active side of security, where users do their own thing in defiance of the best technological defences. Users who can't wait to avoid precautions, for example by emailing the secure password protecting a link together with the link, in the same message, not even encrypted. These are bad practices that are well known to hackers of all kinds, who are always on the dark side of the web, ready to take advantage of it. It also should be noted that the easy-link methods, whether to folders or playlists, relegate end-users to a passive position and involve a certain dependence on administrators, the only people with the ability in the system who can prepare playlists and/or share folders, one-way. In Mnemonica we have decided to leave these old methods behind and we have taken our own, different path. First of all, we have abandoned the ancient regime of folders, with all the obsolete hierarchies that were brought with them. Files are all our children, they are distinguished by the metadata they carry, tags thanks to which contents can be organized and searched in the most diverse and personal of ways. Instead of folders, there are real screening rooms, made to bring people and media together, where people collaborate with one another through media. With an interface so simple that anyone can make their own playlists in a moment, without waiting for the technical gurus.Most importantly instead of the ‘WeTransfer’ method, Mnemonica have a complete two-way communication system between users of all roles. Not one-way paths from admins to users, with no return channel, but something that closely resembles email, with incoming and outgoing. The only difference is that our transport units are Delivery Boxes, containers that can accommodate sets of files and folders — yes, we accept others' — as large and complex as desired. The unrestricted conception of the Delivery Boxes makes life easy in several important use cases, for example; a post lab operator with the simple role of ‘Guest’ will be able to exchange working files with his colleagues in the same project, in full autonomy. No time wasted asking for permission. Or worse, being intermediated by others with the result of downloading and reloading hundreds of Gb’s of data several times. In our view, independence is also a very good thing because it generates efficiency. Making sure that the other keystone: security is at the forefront. The possibility of sending links, encrypted or not, simply does not exist in Mnemonica. It is a thoughtful design, a choice we have reconfirmed with each release, resisting flattery, threats, and temptations. We have done this to help human beings not to fall into the pitfalls seen above, it is about bringing convenience and security to Film and TV productions that otherwise can be open to leaks resulting in lost revenue. With Mnemonica, Delivery Box exchanges take place only between registered users, in the super-secure environment of Mnemonica. This may seem intrusive but there is nothing further from the truth. This is because we focus on our users first as a priority, making security as simple as possible with our app acting as a master key. Total security is at the forefront every time. This seems to us at Mnemonica the best path on which technology can lead us.