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Is HTTPS a scam? (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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Like the TSA at the airport.

Security that we never needed before, but now suddenly we do.

Now we're dependent on a third party gatekeeper for permission to have a web site.

Free, for now.

It's a move by the weasels-that-be to turn the Internet into yet another tool for profit and control.

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[–] 2 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

Some do. It depends on the type of certificate. Thankfully now we have LetsEncrypt so that there is a free alternative to the big CAs.

To answer your initial question - yes it is necessary. Without HTTPS or encryption in general, anybody who can intercept your connection can see everything you're doing.

A real world example of this is let's say you're connected to a WiFi network that has no password and are browsing a plain HTTP site. Open wifi networks are unencrypted, as is HTTP.

I can sit across the road in a vehicle, unseen, on a laptop and sniff the traffic to view what you're doing. If you log into your bank, I now have your credentials and can do what I like, and you don't even know.

This is why we need encryption. It is an (almost) guarantee that your traffic is only viewable to yourself and the other end of whatever you're connecting to and not anyone in the middle.

Edit: for Anyone downvoting OP remember this is nostupidquestions. Take the time to educate if you know better but don't downvote "stupid" questions lol.

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  • [–] [S] -2 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Yes, letsencrypt etc. mitm etc. Thanks, I have heard that particular argument.

    Here's another

    Because prospective customers get shy when the browser says that your site is "insecure"

    Because it makes for better google ranking.

    Because everybody's doing it.

    So there you go. Mob hype and googlian dictatorship.

    That's why we https

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    Because prospective customers get shy when the browser says that your site is "insecure"

    Because it factually is insecure. It is not encrypted and trivial to inspect.

    Because it makes for better google ranking.

    No, in this day and age it is permission to play. Firefox has a built in feature to only load HTTPS sites, which I have enabled. This has nothing to do with Google. Your issue is with expensive CAs, to which there is a free solution (Let's Encrypt). Not HTTPS itself.

    So there you go. Mob hype and googlian dictatorship.

    Incorrect. It is a matter of safety and security and a trivial thing to implement. You are free to not use HTTPS if you want, just as people are free to not consume your service if you don't.

    Calling it a "dictatorship" is hyperbole and demonstrates that you clearly have no idea what you're talking about and won't listen to people that do.

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  • [–] [S] -2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    You seem to be stuffed and pacified with popular explanations that amount to marketing. And so confidently parroted. But that's the internet for you.

    It's the fact of relying on the whim of a third party gatekeeper for permission to run my site that bothers me. It appalls me that you people take this laying down.

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