> the browser is the "user agent": it is supposed to represent the interests of the user
> it's important to have a variety of browsers so users can pick one that does represent their interests
First of all, I'm now terrified of Mozilla/Firefox, because this comment reflects the idea that browsers should be developed as independent ethical entities that represent different groups, in the way special interest groups lobby on behalf of specific people, ignoring the concerns of everyone else.
Second, it's dangerous to put the onus of security on everyone but the user. I'm sure you've seen the wall of sheep: it's more than just http passwords. Users are stupid, and they get security wrong, and they need to be helped to get it right. But one thing that won't help them is absolving them of any thought whatsoever into investing in their own security.
Where this will end is a marketing campaign that sounds a lot like "Mozilla Firefox: The Secure Browser". All they need to do is download your program and just assume everything is fine. Which will of course be a lie, but one that everyone will accept, because they want it to be true.
The browser should not become a political toy. It should be simply a tool, and it should be up to those who wield that tool to decide how it is used. If I make an axe, I don't come to your farm and tell you how to swing it.
This could have been trivially handled by simply asking users how much concern they want to have over their security, or providing some mechanism for organizations to easily transition into technology changes at a pace that works for them. Instead it seems like browser makers are too fond of themselves as white knights to provide reasonable compromises.
Browsers are completely at fault for handling security so poorly in the first place. They continue to have the most asinine user experiences in the world when it comes to understanding what is actually going on when a user browses the web. They continue to support standards which can be easily subverted. They continue to build hack after hack into something that was supposed to just navigate documents and is now an entire fucking application platform. Browsers are a mess, and it's their designers that are at fault for that mess. Now it's clear that a mentality of moral superiority and special interests is the cause.
And while I'm ranting, what is wrong with browsers that they can't simply build a working secure authentication framework into the protocol and back it with a halfway usable UI? How is it a 20 year old tool used to access backend servers has a more effective authentication and authorization system than the most commonly used program in the entire world? It's not like this stuff was some mystery that the poor lowly browser devs couldn't understand. We don't need to be relying on shitty web forms to send plaintext passwords - we didn't need to be doing that in the year 2000!!!! How the hell is it that this piece of software, which is somehow more complex than my entire operating system, can't seem to perform the basic functions i've been doing with other programs for half my life? And yet have the balls to claim they're working in service to the user?
You know what would have been great for the users? A secure protocol which didn't degrade its own security. A URI convention that refuses to communicate with insecure sites. A button that rejects all connections not destined for the domain in the address bar, and functions that control the browser or access to its data without the user expressly allowing it. Simple things that could have actually completely ensured users' safety, without ridiculous complicated kludges that only do half of what they're supposed to do. And these should not be considered controversial - it's not like I'm suggesting they implement security policies before they add buggy features to brand new releases.
You are right, though. Browsers did take 10+ years to enforce a policy that is as unnecessary as it is sudden. I'm sure users will thank the browser vendors now for how much safer they are from black hat hackers in coffee shops. Oh, wait - they are still insecure. It's just now they know it and are unhappy about it, and other organizations can now capitalize on this.
