[OTR-users] What we can expect in future? / file transfer via OTR?

[Michael Reichenbach]

john owen-jones wrote
> 
> Hi 
> Would it be possible to modify OTR for fle transfer.
> through pidgin?
> 
> What I was thinking would be to drag and drop a file.
> 
> First it would be uuencoded to convert it to text.
> encoded by OTR sent as chunks over the IM network
> decoded by OTR to reassemble the uuencoded file
> and then uudecoded to recreate the original file.
> 
> Possibly it could even work as a push system as long as 
> your logged on friends and colleagues would be able to 
> send you files direct to your desktop.
> 
> any thoughts
> 
> john 

Imho OTR is a protocol and it`s in final version and no good idea to 
change it because many clients implement it. We can`t expect the 
developers from this project to add real new features, just improvements 
for the security (if needed later), user support and an updated version 
of their own implementation for pidgin. But the developers may give a 
final verdict on this.

Sure I would love to use Pidgin also for encrypted and authenticated 
file transfers. Because it does not have this feature yet we are 
currently using some complicated setup with ftp over ssl. It does not 
provide Deniability and Perfect forward secrecy but it`s better then no 
encryption and authentication at all.

Because Deniability and Perfect forward secrecy are the main reasons for 
OTR and them won`t work well with audio/video/filesend yet I think a 
request for encrypted file transfers is out of scope the OTR project. 
Some other project would be worth, anyone who has time may make it. :) 
Would "just" need to "wrap" any Open Source server/client in a Pidgin 
plugin. Any thoughts for a well designed protocol for file transfer? I 
am thinking about something user friendly with nat-to-nat / proxy / 
socks support. Ftp won`t work so well without open ports. Is there some 
file transfer protocol where you can use free stun servers very well?