[Info-vax] Google's business model (was Re: forum.vmssoftware.com/)

[Dave Froble]

On 9/27/2023 9:30 PM, Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson wrote:
> On 9/12/2023 3:08 AM, gah4 wrote:
>> On Monday, September 11, 2023 at 10:58:31 AM UTC-7, Simon Clubley wrote:
>>
>> (snip)
>>
>>> And when that happens (and it does sometimes happen), that issuer has just
>>> committed suicide if it can be shown to be incompetence on the part of the
>>> issuer. CAs have been dropped in the past from the major web browsers
>>> because of this, but I can't remember the details.
>>
>>> (Other possibilities include a nation-state attack with a vector the issuer
>>> could not reasonably have been aware of).
>>
>> This often enough happens when there isn't much trust needed.
>>
>> If I want to download some documentation, so that no personal
>> information is needed, why the security?
>
> [I'm late in the game, but not so late a reply isn't worth it.]
>
> The real reason for SSL everywhere is, putting my tinfoil hat on, to
> make sure ISPs can't mess with Google's business model: sell ads.
>
> People who've never experienced it, can't really imagine it, but HTML
> injection used to be a thing, and ISPs would inject ads on pages their
> customers browsed, possibly replacing the Google ads.
>
> My own experience -- when I noticed it -- was rather benign: the cafe's
> wifi bill hadn't been paid, and since I was browsing a http only website
> at the time, I got the notification, and showed the staff.
>
> Xah Lee has a screenshot on his website, of the problem in action.
>
>   http://xahlee.info/w/china_ISP_ad_injection.html
>
> And a link to Ars Technica article from 2013 on the subject.  Which is
> coincidentally the same time frame letsencrypt started.  I remember
> reading about letsencrypt in 2013 or so, but it wasn't ready yet, so I
> couldn't use it for my own website at the time.
>
> My personal take on it is this: it's much more believable that it's all
> about Google's business model than end user security, but we're being
> told it's about security, as a psyop.
>
> [snip]
>

Q-anon would be proud ...

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
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