It was clear that MD5 didn't meet the goals it was designed for in 1994, when experts recommended it be phased out for its originally intended uses. It's not f

It was clear that MD5 didn't meet the goals it was designed for in 1994, when experts recommended it be phased out for its originally intended uses. It's not fine here in 2023. If you need a secure hash, it's been proven broken for 10 years now. If you don't need a secure hash, others are far more performant. Using it, or worse, advocating for its use, is a way to signal your thinking is years behind the leading edge, and also best practices, and even justifiable practices. HTTP's simplicity could make it tolerable for some places where world-readability is a goal - but people, echoing your sentiments here, have said it was "fine" even in situations where it was putting people at risk. Major browser makers recognize the risk, and are now subtly discouraging HTTP, and this discouragement will grow more intense over time.