This response seems to miss the fact that, in this particular case, censorship is being accomplished through eavesdropping.
On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 6:24 PM, Matthew Roth <mr...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi all, > I wanted to share a clarifying email from Ryan Lane in WMF Ops. He's > working through the challenges of HTTPS from the Foundation's end. > > Please see below for more details: > > -Matthew > > On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 2:31 PM, Ryan Lane <rl...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > How does it impact people? Short answer: it shouldn't. Long answer: It > may > > make the site slightly slower due to increased network latency, and it is > > slightly more computationally expensive, which may make the site slower > on > > computers that are underpowered. > > > > How does it impact the WMF? It depends. For enabling it for logged-in > > users, or for those that use HTTPS-anywhere? It doesn't affect us, > because > > that's the state we're in right now. For making HTTPS the default for > > anonymous users? We need to change how our infrastructure works. We may > > need to buy additional hardware. We definitely need to do some > engineering > > work. > > > > How does it impact the government's ability to apply censorship? Short > > answer: it doesn't. It affects their ability to eavesdrop on people. Long > > answer: It depends on how sophisticated the government's censorship > program > > is. In some countries the government's censorship program can be totally > > bypassed using HTTPS. China's program is very sophisticated. The best > HTTPS > > is going to help the Chinese is to give them a reasonable amount of > > protection against eavesdropping. It's still possible for China to > > eavesdrop, even when users are using HTTPS, if China has subverted any of > > the Certificate Authorities trusted by our browsers. > > > > Are there negative sides of each choice? Yes. Not providing HTTPS means > > that users will always be subject to eavesdropping, which in very > > authoritative countries could mean they are imprisoned or killed for > > reading or editing Wikipedia, depending on what they are reading or > > editing. Realistically not making HTTPS the default is similar to not > > providing it for all intents and purposes. Search engines will bring > people > > to the HTTP version of the site, not the HTTPS version so the vast > majority > > of users will still be able to be eavesdropped on. Making HTTPS the > default > > also has negatives. A very small minority of users don't have HTTPS > > support, or their computers are so old that it makes the site unusably > > slow. That's a *very* small percentage of users, though. Additionally, it > > makes the site slower for everyone, which may cause a decrease in viewers > > and/or editors. > > > > This is likely the most non-technical way I can explain things. I hope it > > helps! > > > > > On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Benjamin Chen <bencmqw...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > On 8 Jun, 2013, at 12:24 AM, Matthew Roth <mr...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > > > We have had contact with the authors of the blog and they have said > they > > > will publish our response to their article, though I'm not sure when or > > in > > > what format. > > > > Great. That's really fast response. > > > > On the issue itself, we haven't seen any large scale blocks for years > > (around the time since last time Jimbo visited some Chinese official more > > than 4 or 5 years ago I think). > > > > The secure.wikimedia domain was blocked long ago, but they waited till > now > > to block HTTPS, after 3 years? (I can't remember when it was enabled). I > > wonder how long it took for them to realise. > > > > It is suggested that this could be a long term block similar to how > > secure.wikimedia was blocked - for HTTPS they have no control over > content, > > so they are simply blocking it all. For HTTP they are still performing > deep > > package inspection (means content censoring), so since they can filter > what > > the Chinese people can see, it's likely that they'll leave HTTP alone. > > > > > > Regards, > > > > Benjamin Chen / [[User:Bencmq]] > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > > > > -- > > Matthew Roth > Global Communications Manager > Wikimedia Foundation > +1.415.839.6885 ext 6635 > www.wikimediafoundation.org > *http://blog.wikimedia.org/* > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
