Let's Encrypt bans certificate usage in any US sanctioned territory [pdf]

Post by Hundredth0006 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 8:09 PM UTC

lioeters wrote: post #140

joshuaissac wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let's Encrypt certificates continue to be available in both Iran and Russia, just not for the Iranian and Russian governments. According to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48457280 it affects all people ordinarily resident in those territories, not just their governments: > You are not a person or entity that is: > (a) located in, organized under the laws of, or ordinarily resident in any country or territory…

I wonder what "ordinarily resident" means legally. Like has a permanent address there, even if they don't live there physically..?

Post by jaas » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 8:12 PM UTC

joshuaissac wrote: post #125

jaas wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's Encrypt certificates continue to be available in both Iran and Russia, just not for the Iranian and Russian governments. The terms of service update to clarify what we have always done, comply with relevant law, has not changed the situation for either country.

> Let's Encrypt certificates continue to be available in both Iran and Russia, just not for the Iranian and Russian governments. According to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48457280 it affects all people ordinarily resident in those territories, not just their governments: > You are not a person or entity that is: > (a) located in, organized under the laws of, or ordinarily resident in any country or territory…

Post by theamk » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

Parodper wrote: post #62

theamk wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I trust governments much less that a conglomerate of competing corporations. With all the problems with Web PKI, at least the bad actors are getting distrusted, and this provides a very strong enforcement on the rest. And Certificate Transparency makes sure the mis-issuance would be caught. It is not perfect by any means, but things are getting better. With DANE (or other country-issued certificates), every governmen…

> every government will absolutely double-issue certificates to police, secret service and friends of goverment, and no one will have any recourse. Countries already have CA that issue certificates with more legal force than a handwritten signature. I can open a bank account, pay my taxes and sign up to all government services. But I can't use them for a webpage. > With DANE (or other country-issued certificates) DAN…

Post by Hundredth0006 » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 8:18 PM UTC

bigfishrunning wrote: post #134

Galanwe wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I don't see many companies stepping up to provide competing services Maybe because the US dropped most of its anti trust regulations, leading to ridiculously monopolistic practices such as "acquire everything that may be threatening".

When was the last time you heard about a European cellphone manufacturer, or social media network, or web browser being acquired by an American monopoly? I can only think of Nokia, purchased by microsoft in 2014. Those phones ran windows CE before that even, so you could hardly have avoided the american tech industry. All I'm trying to say is, it's impossible for Europeans to both A) be on the internet and B) avoid t…

Post by flumpcakes » Tue, Jun 09, 2026, 8:21 PM UTC

xxpor wrote: post #149

mrweasel wrote: post #128

This should be one of those things that should be an quick EU win. Running Let's Encrypt is $3-4mill a year, the EU probably uses that on pencils. The EU could easily bootstrap a Let's Encrypt competitor if it truly cared about removing dependencies on US based entities.

Do you really think the EU wants to sign up for PR that’s essentially “the US is being too mean to Russia” right now?