Permissions in firewire disk mode

Can someone tell me how to obtain permission to transfer files using target disk mode? When I try this, most files, even if put in my shared folder, have a red circle with a "minus sign" meaning that they cannot be accessed. I have played with file permissions and nothing seems to help.

I understand that I can use target disk mode in the other direction and "push" instead of "pull". However, one shouldn't have to do that.

Thanks for any help you can provide.