ftp archives disappearing?

Someone wrote.... There's the active vs. passive issue which Sftp gets around quite handily. But there's also the fact that ftp passwords are transmitted cleartext. You might counter with "oh, but this is anonymous only so passwords dont matter". Well, many ftp servers that offer anonymous access ALSO have password authenticated users. I'd rather not put those users with higher privs at risk because of the public users. Just keep them all encrypted. I strongly prefer sftp over ftp... with one exception. sftp transfers are slower than ftp transfers. I've never researched why, but would assume its the crypto. Also, the whole argument depends on the sensitivity of the data being transmitted. Just from kneejerk reaction I always set up sftp instead of ftp. But there are exceptions.... Jay West