Fake Security and 'Free' Certificates as a Trap of Planned Obsolescence and Top-Down Centralisation
The boiling frogs
Having spent years handing out 'free' bytes (which cost virtually nothing to produce) to cause 90% of Web browser users to either be discouraged/impeded from (or entirely blocked from) HTTP sites, which are easier to set up and maintain over a length of time, the Linux Foundation takes it up another notch, increasing the heat. To quote: "Let’s Encrypt will be reducing the validity period of the certificates we issue. We currently issue certificates valid for 90 days, which will be cut in half to 45 days by 2028."
This impacts not only the Web but also other protocols (e.g. IRC).
This is going to harm small sites/operations, not the sponsors of the Linux Foundation, who have many skilled engineered on their payroll. This is also a mechanism of centralised censorship (expiry and revocation) sold to us as "security". To small sites, this is like "sideloading" dilemma but over the Web.
Oligarchs always fancied selling to their population their autocratic fetishes as "protection" of the public. But they actually protect themselves.
This isn't unprecedented. This was also done to booting. █