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Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

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Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#41
post #34

Great to see this built into firefox, I have been using HTTPS Everywhere https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere to achieve similar results, it won't warn you if it is not https (i think) but it will try and upgrade to https if it can. It is available for chrome and firefox. What particularly annoyed me was using http to sites which supported https.

For me at least it warns me very blatantly and I have to asked to go to an insecure site if it's HTTP only. Perhaps we don't have the same configuration.

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#42
post #34

Great to see this built into firefox, I have been using HTTPS Everywhere https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere to achieve similar results, it won't warn you if it is not https (i think) but it will try and upgrade to https if it can. It is available for chrome and firefox. What particularly annoyed me was using http to sites which supported https.

IIRC HTTPS Everywhere works by having a whitelist of domains that are also accessible over https, and switches to https for those.

So if a site isn't in the whitelist, it won't modify the request in any way.

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#44
post #18

I’m surprised at the negative knee-jerk reaction. I actually love this idea immediately. It encapsulates something I kind of already wanted when using HTTPS Everywhere. This doesn’t guarantee the transport is end-to-end secure; I’m sure plenty will strip the encryption at an LB and then possibly send it back over the internet. But, I think it’s a good addition nevertheless. Here’s to hoping for more DoH and encrypted…

Fully support this argument and Mozilla's initiative.

I work for a firewall co and we had taken a strategic decision to not allow plaintext traffic onto the internet (from cloud deployments). It's just lazy on the client or server operator's part to not have it so.

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#45
post #18

I’m surprised at the negative knee-jerk reaction. I actually love this idea immediately. It encapsulates something I kind of already wanted when using HTTPS Everywhere. This doesn’t guarantee the transport is end-to-end secure; I’m sure plenty will strip the encryption at an LB and then possibly send it back over the internet. But, I think it’s a good addition nevertheless. Here’s to hoping for more DoH and encrypted…

DoH changes who gets all your DNS traffic from your ISP and your router to (in practice) a single central DoH provider. Which of those you trust least depends on who you are.

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#46
post #34

Great to see this built into firefox, I have been using HTTPS Everywhere https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere to achieve similar results, it won't warn you if it is not https (i think) but it will try and upgrade to https if it can. It is available for chrome and firefox. What particularly annoyed me was using http to sites which supported https.

I remember years ago when Facebook wasn’t using https and a bunch of articles came out with how to access someone’s account if you’re both on unencrypted public wifi. Since then I’ve been a fan of https everywhere

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#47
post #24

There had better be an about:config option to turn this stupidity off. Perhaps one of the downvoters can explain why the implied opinion "Nobody should be able to access your site without clearance from a third-party gatekeeper" belongs on a site called "Hacker News." And no, it won't be opt-in for long. Read the rest of the page: "Once HTTPS becomes even more widely supported by websites than it is today, we expect…

HTTPS is not about gatekeeping, you can use "let's encrypt" for free certificates for any domain. HTTPS-only is about forcing all traffic to be encrypted by banning clear-text traffic. I've been using the "HTTPS everywhere" extension for years and it's great.

You can use let's encrypt... until you can't. And then, after all browsers had deprecated HTTP, it will be time to seriously rake all website owners for certificate money. It is pretty brilliant, if you ask me.

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#48

As a developer I likely won't use this feature much, considering most of our internal development sites are http only. For the general public it might be useful though, especially the auto-upgrade feature, protecting them from the lazy network operators that didn't add a proper auto-redirect.

According to another comment, you can still allow certain sites through http, so your Internet dev sites are still fine but the global sites will be blocked by default

Sure, but we have like 50 different internal domains for different customers, so that would get annoying real fast ;)

Re: Firefox 83 introduces HTTPS-Only Mode

#49
post #24

There had better be an about:config option to turn this stupidity off. Perhaps one of the downvoters can explain why the implied opinion "Nobody should be able to access your site without clearance from a third-party gatekeeper" belongs on a site called "Hacker News." And no, it won't be opt-in for long. Read the rest of the page: "Once HTTPS becomes even more widely supported by websites than it is today, we expect…

HTTPS is not about gatekeeping, you can use "let's encrypt" for free certificates for any domain. HTTPS-only is about forcing all traffic to be encrypted by banning clear-text traffic. I've been using the "HTTPS everywhere" extension for years and it's great.

yes it is. someone has to give you a certificate which the users browser accepts. even if its free today.

lets say a simple website which someone uses to display some holiday pictures. why would we need https here, if there is no login or anything like that?

it just adds an extra hurdle for not so tech-savvy users and increases the trend to abolish small private websites.

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