In a recent blog post, Mozilla (makers of the popular Firefox browser) plans to set a date by which non-encrypted [1] websites would see access to browser features gradually removed. While the details aren’t yet clear as to the timeframe, or exactly what features will be limited; but it’s a definite message that powerful players are pushing encryption on everyone. This trend of “encrypt everything” is becoming very troubling.
I do feel bad right now for all those users of Path on the iPhone that had address book details uploaded to Path’s servers stealthy and in the background. Consequently, this has cause Path’s current CEO to write a sincere apology blog and ultimately delete user data and update the Path application. As the fallout continues, I notice how much of the echo chamber is calling this a failure of Apple to secure user’s address book. Apple can be blamed for many things, but this is not Apple’s fault.
Honesty, let’s talk about this for a moment. These last few days have been interesting in this regard for me. I’m not a perfect beacon of honesty for sure – I do try, however, to be as honest as I can in situations.