[ale] How secure is http basic authentication?

[ale_nospam at fayettedigital.com (Jim Lynch)]

Along the lines of the question about ssl email login.  If I go to a 
site, http not https, are my login credentials secure when using basic 
authentication?  I think I sniffed it once and didn't see plain text 
being passed, but that doesn't mean it's secure.

Thanks,
Jim.