After US Government Funding Cuts the Centralisation of the Web (Especially Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt) is at Risk
Related: (earlier this year)
- Moving Away From Certificate Authorities (CAs) Like Let's Encrypt Means Taking Away From the US Government the Power to 'Censor' Sites by Revoking Certificates
- The Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt Hits New Lows in Geminispace
- Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Falls to Only 0.4% of the Total in Geminispace
"Tor-backer OTF sues to save its funding from Trump cuts," the British news site The Register reported a couple of hours ago. Make no mistake about it, this isn't about Tor per se. It's about a bunch of things and also about the Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Let's Encrypt. What if it went offline? What would happen to the Web and other services that rely on CAs (even most of the networks for IRC in 2025)? As an associate put it, "what happens when the plug is pulled on Let's Encrypt? It's not like Web browsers even allow self-signed certificates any more. Centralization bites..."
Well, yes, and moreover, it was always that way. It started that way and over time Web browsers became more hostile towards sites that do not 1) have certificates AND 2) get certificates from particular vendors (a cabal of so-called "trust"; trust us, you cannot truly trust them). Set aside clock-related issues and other malarkey. It's a faulty "trust model" which is also flaky and tends to cause more downtime than it saves people from scams (lots of false alarms, little net gain). We've warned about it all along. Now they try to do the same to software. Someone has told me: "I can no longer log into IRC because there are no free clients available anymore."
Another person has just told me (in IRC): "for some reason IRC is blocked at my dad's, so I need to use a web client there..."
They try to pull the plug on open protocols with decent encryption available (unless it is outsourced to third parties, usually American or intelligence allies of the US). It's all about control over users. Do not assume that because Let's Encrypt is here today (issuing certificates and sending out E-mails) it'll also be here tomorrow. Let's Encrypt can die as fast as Voice of America (VOA) or RFA. "The VOA site is now devoid of content," an associate notes. "The void shall be filled by RT et al." was my reply. On the Web, many sites are considered to be "liberal", so MElon and the Cheetos stand to gain from disrupting everything. The anti-media rhetoric grew louder in recent weeks, both in Hungary and in the US (also Turkey and Maharlika). █
