Whatever happened to apple.asimov.net?

[Drken]

Whatever happened to apple.asimov.net? I've been trying to get on for the past several days, and no go.

 

[krebizfan]

I have got there with a www in front of the address https://www.apple.asimov.net

 

[SomeGuy]

The original site: ftp.apple.asimov.net is still there if you use an FTP client, as our browser overloads have deemed FTP to be old, and obsolete, and insecure, and HERE HAVE A PILE OF FULL MOTION VIDEO ADVERTISING AND TRACKING SHOVED DOWN YOUR THROAT!

It looks like https://ftp.apple.asimov.net should work, but surprise, surprise some certificate error. Got to keep sucking those down, the first one is free, really.

Have I mentioned I hate the "modern" internet?

 

[Robbbert]

I think you meant overlords. Yes, Firefox 90 onwards has deemed that FTP is insecure and they therefore removed support for it. The terrible excuse was "because the other browsers did it". They claim to be leaders, but instead are just another bunch of followers. In reality browsers should support as many protocols as possible, secure or not. I'm disgusted at their actions.

So these days you need to get a FTP client in order to access FTP sites.

 

[whartung]

The world is far different now. FTP IS utterly insecure. May as well be using telnet (a long obsoleted protocol on the wild internet).

Firefox (et al) should continue to support FTP, but disable it by default. Let those who know to whence they tread turn it on. They could also default to only supporting anonymous FTP, which coyly routes around the primary security option.

That said, it behooves the browser developers to take steps to help protect the general public.

I had to call a company the other day, I needed to reorder something, had the phone number on the side of the thing I wanted to reorder. A specialist item to be sure, but used by the wide general public.

I mis dialed the number by 1 digit and fell in to some awful telemarketing hell. I guarantee you that this number was chosen because it was one digit away from the number I was using. These people were targeting this number, and I'm sure other numbers like this, to suck unsuspecting people in to their maw. They are literally lying in wait. It's a telemarketing mugging.

It was terrible.

Nothing that anyone can do about it.

But, open protocols on the internet that carry passwords in the clear, are just ripe for picking. Doesn't bother me at all that the browsers are working towards shutting the unencrypted internet down.

 

[Timo W.]

I think you meant overlords. Yes, Firefox 90 onwards has deemed that FTP is insecure and they therefore removed support for it. The terrible excuse was "because the other browsers did it". They claim to be leaders, but instead are just another bunch of followers. In reality browsers should support as many protocols as possible, secure or not. I'm disgusted at their actions.

So these days you need to get a FTP client in order to access FTP sites.

Firefox and all other browsers are for browsing the web. The web is based on http(s) and not ftp. FTP was never something a browser should support at all. Also, it's not that you can no longer use it. FTP links/urls are now handled by an external program. If you have an FTP client installed, Firefox will pass it to that. And that's how it should be.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I make extensive use of ftp on my intranet. Rules prevent any access from IPs outside of the intranet range--and it's all passive ftp.

So there are still uses for it, particularly when moving data between systems that don't support browsers. Trying to use Microsoft networking on systems not running a Microsoft OS is a nightmare--and I suspect, no more secure.

There always SFTP if you need security.

 

[VERAULT]

I think you meant overlords. Yes, Firefox 90 onwards has deemed that FTP is insecure and they therefore removed support for it. The terrible excuse was "because the other browsers did it". They claim to be leaders, but instead are just another bunch of followers. In reality browsers should support as many protocols as possible, secure or not. I'm disgusted at their actions.

So these days you need to get a FTP client in order to access FTP sites.

How in the hell are we at version 90+!? There is a new release every day and each one worse than the previous. I used version 3.6.28 until It stopped working just a few years ago.

 

[Robbbert]

Different opinions for different things. I prefer to be given the choice to look around in an insecure manner if I want. If it's something that has to be enabled, that's fine. I'd really like a browser than can look at any kind of communication, whether it be the usual http(s), or the dark web, FTP or anything else that's out there. I'd even like to be able to access sites that have expired certificates if I want. If the connection can be made, let's do it.

I can see some of you like to be nannied, like to be comfortably protected. I'd rather have a choice. If I fall in a hole, then so be it. I can't say I wasn't warned.

 

[VERAULT]

Exactly, coming from computers in the Archaic time I am used to having all the control. Limiting my usage just makes me angry. If mine let me break it if I want.

 

[Agent Orange]

Different opinions for different things. I prefer to be given the choice to look around in an insecure manner if I want. If it's something that has to be enabled, that's fine. I'd really like a browser than can look at any kind of communication, whether it be the usual http(s), or the dark web, FTP or anything else that's out there. I'd even like to be able to access sites that have expired certificates if I want. If the connection can be made, let's do it.

I can see some of you like to be nannied, like to be comfortably protected. I'd rather have a choice. If I fall in a hole, then so be it. I can't say I wasn't warned.

Just yesterday I fired up my XP gamer and was warned by the browser that the site I was heading for had expired certificates. I was given a choice on the desktop and I went ahead and dismissed the warning. The browser is/was an early Firefox which morphed into MS Edge/Bing under an agreement between parties. Almost any browser that I have encountered will let yo go anywhere if you know how to manage your search settings. For Aunt Sally and cousin Bill, browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge are set to protect the mainstream.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I appreciate the FF warnings, however. Very often, something that turns up on a giggle search is nothing more than a honeypot. Being warned to be careful is nice.

 

[Drken]

Thanks krebizfan, that worked!

 

[NeXT]

How in the hell are we at version 90+!? There is a new release every day and each one worse than the previous. I used version 3.6.28 until It stopped working just a few years ago.

The quality of the build no longer mattered. If you missed something or a library updated in the 24 hours between nightly builds you could include it in the next build and that went towards the next sub-version.
There is no more getting fired for awful code. Just another version update.

 

[DFinnigan]

Firefox and all other browsers are for browsing the web. The web is based on http(s) and not ftp. FTP was never something a browser should support at all.

That's entirely contrary to Tim Berners-Lee's vision for the WWW in the early 1990s. He saw the web browser as a centralized information access tool, regardless of protocol. The first web browsers— Line Mode and Mosaic— could access information via FTP, NNTP, Gopher, and a few other protocols besides HTTP.

 

[Al Kossow]

it behooves the browser developers to take steps to help protect the general public.

Web development and protocols are firmly in the hands now of large corporations who know what is best for themselves
who believe YOU are what is being sold. You just have to watch the connections being made to sites you've never heard of
behind your back to be convinced of that.