I am building a site where visitors can purchase and download software.
To purchase a software product, the visitor must submit credit card
info. Once the purchase has been approved, the user is given a link
from which he/she may download the requested software. This link MUST
only be accessible to those who have paid. I have tried a number of
different and creative methods, but none give me the security I need. I
don't want the user to be able bookmark the URL or email the URL to
friends so that they can download the software as well. I am using PHP
sessions combined with MySQL user accounts to authenticate users
throughout the rest of the site. How can I get this to work for
downloads?
Is this even possible within the open realm of the browser? Have any of
you solved a similar problem? I welcome any ideas.
Ron Stagg
