BBS style download/upload system

Hello everyone. I need to have a donwload script for authorized users only. I'm aware on how to do a login system with sessions but I need to know how to enable the users (once they are properly authorized) download files from the system. This files are only intended for authorized employes. Most of them consist of MS word, Excel and ZIP files. I want to stored them on a separate directory (other than the web tree) and use fread or any better sugestion to transfer the files from the system to the client. Also, I need to have a way to upload files to the system and have them stored on a diferent directory as well. I kind of curious if it is safer to do it through http or ftp. If it is through ftp I'm considering hiding the user name and password from the users and have just one username password for the ftp server. If it is through http I believe that would make things easier. Can anyone help me do that ? I need to : - Have a script to donwload files from the my Linux server using HTTP. - Have a script to upload files through http as well. Does anyone found a script to do such thing on the net or any Linux / PHP magazine or publication? Thank you, Carlos Fernando Scheidecker Antunes.