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Verizon Kills Free FTP Access
First time accepted submitter JP205 writes "Verizon recently disabled FTP access for its Internet customers who use its proprietary service to build their personal websites. It turns out that if you want FTP access restored, Verizon is happy to grant it to you for an extra $6 a month."
Verizon didn't "kill FTP access". They didn't shut down the protocol. They only shut off FTP access to their free personal web page hosting servers. That's a big difference when you're writing a headline.
It's days like this that I miss the fine editing that CmdrTaco used to provide.
John
Reliable? Unless you need to go through a NAT
Simple? Nothing's as simple as connecting to one port for the control channel and then having another random port you need to connect to for a data channel and then there's the PASV/EPASV vs. Active question.
Unambiguous? Every server displays different text, I'm not even sure the prompts are the same
Easy to automate? It's a challenge-response password mechanism
Low overhead? See the "simple" rebuttal
And, oh yes, all passwords are strictly in the clear.
SCP, on the other hand, is reliable, simple, unambiguous, much easier to automate, and overhead isn't nearly the problem on modern computers as it was when you tried to get it working on a 386SX. And one more thing, it's SECURE!
I'm colorblind and have diabetes, you insensitive clod!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Wow. I bet both users were not only outraged, but they were even more infuriated to learn that geocities was gone too....
1996 called, they want their web hosting solution back.
1992 called, they want their protocol back.
1990 called, telling me I owe it royalties on this joke....
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
I use rsync, which practically shits rainbows.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I've "automated" more than a few FTP connections to pull in daily data feeds (EDI, price feeds, transactional data, etc). And every single one of them required slightly different syntax.
Doesn't, say, the FTP module of Python abstract that away for you?
Some servers don't like dir vs ls.
And SCP doesn't like either, as far as I can tell. That's why I prefer SFTP, automated with the aid of Paramiko, an implementation of SSH and SFTP in Python on top of PyCrypto. But not all web hosts support SSH access at all.
PASV solves one set of problems in exchange for another (cheap insecure home firewall? Great, no problems. Actually secure corporate firewall? Prepare for a day of agony, and expect it to break every time you get an update).
In what way is a cheap home firewall insecure?