On Tuesday 02 September 2008 13:36, Tim wrote:
On Tue, 2008-09-02 at 12:03 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I must say I was fairly unimpressed with the error I got
> when browsing to the suggested URL,
> <
https://www.scientificlinux.org/>.
> I know there was some sort of explanation given for this,
> and probably a solution; but I am rather lazy,
You're likely to see that sort of thing a bit more often, now, as
various free projects see the need to use HTTPS, but can't afford the
high prices charged to get certificates that will be recognised by
browsers straight away. They'll get cheaper, or free, certificates
which you'll need to work out for yourself whether they're trustworthy
by okaying them one at a time, or by adding a root certificate from
whomever countersigned theirs.
The average HTTPS website that "just works" for you has paid a lot of
money to someone like Verisign to assert that they're who they claim to
be, and your browser came with root certificates for Verisign (to let
the browser trust Verisign). Some just can't afford to do that.
Can't afford to buy a certificate? Scientific Linux webadmins? Those who are
backed up by institutions like Cern and Fermilab (which spend billions of any
currency one can think of)? Oh, come on... :-)
If their webadmins have put https instead of http, I'd bet it is because of
encryption capabilities, and if they wanted a certificate from Verisign or
elsewhere I am sure they could afford one. I seriously doubt they are
interested in https because of potential hoax sites (not saying that they
should not worry about hoaxes, though).
:-)
Marko