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So Google made this change to accommodate the schools' inability to filter based on host and https mode. And some of the schools' solution was to block https al
by coin 16y ago
So Google made this change to accommodate the schools' inability to filter based on host and https mode. And some of the schools' solution was to block https all together. Basically the schools' filtering is lame, so Google (in the interest of doing things right) solves this by tweaking their side.
- qjz 16y agoUnfortunately, Google didn't have much of a choice. However incompetent or misguided the schools' reaction to blocking encrypted search, it immediately broke Google Docs (and possibly other resources) for many of them. Google probably can't afford to give up this foothold, or to appear unreliable. The schools aren't upset at the existence of encrypted search, they just want a dead easy way to block it on their networks.
- stanleydrew 16y agoSeems like they could have fixed Google Docs then. I thought Docs was at https://docs.google.com/ https://docs.google.com/ anyway?
- qjz 16y agoIt is, but if you're not logged in, that link goes directly to an https://www.google.com https://www.google.com login page.
- ars 16y agoSchools block ALL encrypted traffic. Not to do so makes the firewall almost totally pointless. Presumably schools whitelisted specific sites to allow https, and google was one of them, until it became a problem.
- Estragon 16y agoNot ssh. *Dr Evil pinky smile*
- stanleydrew 16y agoIt does seem pretty weird that Google would make a change like this that effects everyone just to appease some schools that can't figure out how to properly configure their firewalls.
- ars 16y agoAnd how exactly should they configure their firewalls? It's not possible to do that. The firewall has no idea what's being communicated because it's encrypted!
- dedward 16y agoThey did it because it was the easiest way for google to make it easy to filter out encrypted search without breaking their other services. A very simple change for google -vs- a very difficult firewall configuration for a network administrator. (You can't just block https://www.google.com/ https://www.google.com/ without breaking a whole bunch of other services you may want to be using) (and you probably don't have the budget & manpower to deploy the type of network you would need to scan & filter HTTPS traffic as an organization if you are a school, either)
- ars 16y agoHow exactly would you scan and filter https? It's encrypted.
- qjz 16y agoIt's trivial (but evil) for an organization like a school to set up a proxy for https, since they are in a position to install the necessary root certificates in browsers (classic MITM attack). Devices are already on the market to make this easy to deploy (shudder).
- _pi 16y agoMeet the new CISCO MITM 5505, trust CISCO for all your net appliance needs.