1&1 web hosting not reading my .htaccess file - apache

Question

It seems that my web host (1&1) is not reading my .htaccess file.
I tried configuring my .htaccess file to prevent file access via the web browser, specifically all files with the following extensions: .txt, .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, .xlsx, .xls, .doc, .docx, .eps, .gif, .png.
Here is my .htaccess file:
#DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
#Options +FollowSymLinks
Options -Indexes
# 1und1 needed for php extensionless redirect.
Options -MultiViews
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
#RewriteBase /relative/web/path/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ /$index.php [L,QSA]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !=/favicon.ico
RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php
RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} !^$
RewriteRule .* - [E=REMOTE_USER:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?domain\.ltd [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?domain\.ltd.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg|js|txt|php|html|css|js)$ /messageforcurious [L]
</IfModule>
<FilesMatch "\.(txt|jpg|jpeg|pdf|xlsx|xls|doc|docx|eps|gif|png)$">
Deny from all
</FilesMatch>
#php_value register_globals 0
How do I achieve what I want? Any tips?

Answer 1

It seems that the .htaccess file is readable by 1&1, but there is an easier way to block access to all files than what you are doing.
If you truly want to block all people from visiting your website - which is what blocking all files will do - you can make your .htaccess into:
Deny from all
Otherwise, you can do this, which will allow only some files to be accessed (in this case, only .html files):
<FilesMatch "\.html$">
Allow from YOUR_IP_ADDRESS
Deny from all
</FilesMatch>
For more reading, I'd look at this 1&1 overview of their .htaccess file
Note: I am entirely unsure of what your index.php redirects are doing above, since it seems that you want them to go to /messageforcurious. I'd remove those index.php redirects since it seems you don't want them.