[NCLUG] webhosting question

[Chris Riddoch]

"J. Paul Reed" <preed at sigkill.com> writes:

> On 15 Oct 2002, Chris Riddoch wrote:
> 
> > > > I called and asked their tech support rep. about this, and he said they
> > > > haven't seen any problems with doing it this way.
> > >
> > > Then they're idiots.
> >
> > I'd like to take this moment to mention that Peak to Peak only allows you
> > to use FTP to upload pages to your web space, and only provides POP3 for
> > pulling down email from their server, both of which send your passwords
> > in the clear.
> 
> I only used such harsh words with those other people because they seemed to
> claim there isn't a problem with this. Of course, Peak to Peak might not
> see the problem either.

I asked them about this sometime this spring, and the answer I got
was, "You *could* use the SSL webmail interface we provide. That's
secure."

But it's quite honestly the worst webmail interface I've ever seen,
(though I doubt there's such a thing as a good webmail interface,) and
it tacks an advertisement for Peak to Peak to the bottom of every
message I send through it.  There have been a number of occasions
where I've waited for a chance to get my laptop to a place where I
could connect to the world to send a reply to something I read through
webmail on a campus terminal many hours before.

If I wanted an advertisement tacked on to every email message I send,
I'd use Yahoo.  Yahoo at least wouldn't *charge* me to send
advertisements on their behalf.  I pay for Peak to Peak's service; I
generally expect more from paid services than what's commonly
available for free.

> > So I can't download my email when I'm on my laptop on campus, or on the
> > wireless network at the coffee shop where we hold the Boulder hacking
> > society, or when I'm connected through anything but their dialup lines.
> 
> *If* they run ssh, then it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Nope. They don't.

-- 
Chris Riddoch       | epistemological
socket at peakpeak.com | humility