From cio.gov:
HTTPS encrypts nearly all information sent between a client and a web service.
For example, an unencrypted HTTP request reveals not just the body of the request, but the full URL, query string, and various HTTP headers about the client and request
There’s some images there as an example but I would advise clicking on the links and reading further.
For me, as the Ordinary Web User sort of person, I rather like anything that will make sure that my credit card details won’t get stolen as I enter the number…or even before that, my password stolen when I log in. I like knowing that the site I’m visiting is actually the site I want to be seeing, and in the case of business sites like online stores, this is important because we’re dealing with hard earned money here AND my personal details, like home address, name, phone number, etc. For WordPress to offer that built into the WordPress sites they host, that’s awesome, and from a business perspective, a good move.
All that has fuck-all to do with government spying. Which is why, especially in the US, you should pay attention to shit like this. Buying stuff online – whether it’s a book, video game, or placing an order on your grocery store’s online ordering system- it is very much in your best interest to have the strongest encryption and best cyber-security available – not just HTTPS. Similarly, it is in the best interest of businesses – not just in the US – to provide customer security when they go to order stuff online. THEY are the ones responsible, for the most part, for keeping your private data secure and safe; and its’ additional help to prevent your passwords, credit card info, etc, from falling into the wrong hands when you’re just signing up. HTTPS helps with that. It is but one aspect of website and browsing security, but for very basic end users like myself, it’s pretty important. I am not saying that it’s the cure-all, but it does help patch some of the holes (and the other holes are outside the scope of this post anyway.)
Bear in mind as well that we no longer just access the Internet on computers, but on our smartphones as well. So having good encryption on your phone and the apps you use has completely valid reasons to be there – just imagine how bad it’d be if your smart phone were stolen or even just dropped out of your purse, pocket or jacket while going about your everyday errands. What if you used it to go shopping on Ebay, or Amazon, used it for online banking, Facebook, Twitter, Paypal, reloading your bus/train card (you should see how they use the Octopus card in Hong Kong! It’s really LIKE a replacement wallet!) etc. Also say, if you used it to verify security for things like Battlenet, Steam, the abovementioned shopping sites, and so on. There are even some phones and banks now that support the smartphone being a replacement paywave card.
So, that’s kinda like losing your wallet, except in this case your wallet contains the keys to your virtual house, your bank, your TV… and you can’t call the bank to get your credit cards cancelled because your phone is gone. So how many smartphones these days support you attaching it to a lanyard so you can wear it around your neck or attach it by chain to you physically? (I rather miss the old text only phones I had for that reason.)
So, do I, as an ordinary, everyday user, who has no criminal record and has nothing to hide from the government, have legitimate reasons to want the best technological security available? Hell yes. This is simply a logical frame of mind given the incredibly connected digital age we live in.
Wanting better digital security and privacy in this age is normal, and comparing anyone who wants that as a potential criminal is like bitching at someone who puts locks on their doors to keep thieves out as making it harder for the cops to kick down the door when the easily pissed off, and perpetually offended SJWs pull a SWATting on you for your thought-crimes with DARVO tactics, an increasingly and shockingly expanding form of petty retaliation for mere disagreement. Or, when police use a shit and unprovable reason for a search, like here; and more terrifyingly, this, which reminds me a LOT of what used to go on behind the Iron Curtain, or Nazi Germany.
I don’t think we want to live in a world where America decides it’s perfectly okay to act in the way that Communists and Nazis were decried for, and in the manner that the corrupt hold to power in many places of the world.
We should do well to remember Ben Franklin’s admonition about trading essential liberty for temporary safety: Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
