The Curse of Dialup World
allenpike.com
An acquisition gets weird.

A long time ago — at the turn of the century, as kids would call it now – my first job was at a dialup internet service provider. Officially, I was hired to be a sort of errand-boy. Instead, the role was more interesting: a front seat for one of the great meltdowns of our time.

Here’s how it went down. …

  • ThrowawayEnglish
    2•9 months ago

    Well thats an interesting way of handling customer data

    • partial_accumenEnglish
      4•9 months ago

      I’m not OP, but I can say it was very weird time compared to today.

      • No encryption anywhere, then some time later only 40-bit SSL
      • Database servers and SMB file shares exposed directly to the public internet. Early cable modem would let you browse the hard drives of your less savvy neighbors that didn’t know what default administrative shares where (when they logged in as admin with no password).
      • Full Credit Card numbers and exp dates sent in the clear in email to and from merchants and customers
      • Personal Homepage where you’d post your full mailing address, email address, and phone number along with your hobbies and stories about your family