Transporter: "A new way to share, access, & protect files"

I just learned of this Kickstarter funded project which appears to have recently approached the "shipping production units to backers, can also be purchased through retailers" stage:

http://www.filetransporter.com/
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transporterguy/transporter-a-new-way-to-share-access-and-protect

It looks interesting. I have more research to do and at some point will be looking to see if:

1) Setup, management, Transporter (IP Address) discovery, etc could (if so desired) be done *without* creating an account at the manufacturer's site or using their servers for anything.

2) File, folder, etc information can (if desired) be very strongly encrypted (on client devices such as computers/phones, possibly) so as to protect all the information stored on Transporter devices in case yours or someone else's you sync with were stolen. I did see some mention of encryption support but I need to read more about that.

3) You can configure things so that if a Transporter were removed from your private network it would no longer successfully communicate with the clients and Transporters it normally would. Alternatively, you might want to allow certain clients such as your own so that you could command a stolen Transporter to wipe/secure itself.

4) The "use someone else's Transporter for secure offsite backups, they can't access any of the information unless you choose to give them the necessary password(s)" pattern is supported.

If the device is robust in those and other respects I think it would be an attractive solution for many environments where individuals and/or companies are serious about security, privacy, and control over their own computing resources.

 

So, it's essentially a networked external hard drive? I think I'll pass. I suppose the interface and software will be nice, but I'm not sure that's worth close to $200. Is it aimed more towards less tech-savvy users that couldn't do backups and encryption on their own?

Plus, this thing requires a mobile drive, which generally costs much more per GB than a 3.5" drive.

 

The HW is meh IMO. It's the software that caught my eye. Specifically, it appears they are trying to do continuous, secure, NAS (Transporter) to NAS (Transporter) folder syncing well and in a way that might be easier for less tech savvy people to setup.

 

Looks like them funky dell speakers from the 1990's.. Impress me first.