3 ms·

How is this going to work if people https to sites outside the UK?

icebraining 13y ago
When you connect to an HTTPS site, your browser send the domain (hostname) unencrypted, so that the server can select the right certificate. If it doesn't/didn't, the server could only have one site per IP, so you could identify the site by doing a reverse DNS query. In any case, blocking access to an HTTPS site is not a significant technical problem.
- captn3m0 13y ago
  More details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication
- bigiain 13y ago
  Sure - blocking access to https://www.google.com https://www.google.com is not a significant tech problem. I somehow don't think they're planning on that though. Blocking access to https://www.google.com/?q=nasty+goat+sex https://www.google.com/?q=nasty+goat+sex while not blocking access to https://www.google.com/?q=how+to+vote+conservative+in+the+UK https://www.google.com/?q=how+to+vote+conservative+in+the+UK requires some technical chops that while not impossible, would put the UK right up there with enlightened democracies such as China, Iran, and Egypt in terms of interfering with their citizens internet use. I eagerly await the spectacular demonstration of incompetence and misunderstanding of basic internet operation that'll be the fallout of this - perhaps it'll make my local government's own similar mistakes seem less obvious and stupid: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-asics-attempt-to-block-one-website-took-down-250000-20130605-2np6v.html http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-asics-a...
  - marshray 13y ago
    It is not possible for anyone to block access to https://www.google.com/?q=specific+thing https://www.google.com/?q=specific+thing over a long period of time without either custom modifications to every affected client or help from Google itself. Google's long rocky experience with China proves exactly that.
    - bigiain 13y ago
      Not at a 100% level, but we know the Chinese government (and I suspect the UK government) are capable of deploying faked google.com SSL certs which'll pass unnoticed by just about anyone who's not using a certificate-pinning version of Chrome. And China(/Iran/Egypt) clearly has national-border level firewalls capable of using such faked SSL certs to MITM and deep packet inspect entire countries worth of internet traffic on the fly.
      - marshray 13y ago
        Yes, but they are not capable of getting away with it for any length of time.

When you connect to an HTTPS site, your browser send the domain (hostname) unencrypted, so that the server can select the right certificate. If it doesn't/didn't, the server could only have one site per IP, so you could identify the site by doing a reverse DNS query. In any case, blocking access to an HTTPS site is not a significant technical problem.

captn3m0 13y ago
More details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication
bigiain 13y ago
Sure - blocking access to https://www.google.com https://www.google.com is not a significant tech problem. I somehow don't think they're planning on that though. Blocking access to https://www.google.com/?q=nasty+goat+sex https://www.google.com/?q=nasty+goat+sex while not blocking access to https://www.google.com/?q=how+to+vote+conservative+in+the+UK https://www.google.com/?q=how+to+vote+conservative+in+the+UK requires some technical chops that while not impossible, would put the UK right up there with enlightened democracies such as China, Iran, and Egypt in terms of interfering with their citizens internet use. I eagerly await the spectacular demonstration of incompetence and misunderstanding of basic internet operation that'll be the fallout of this - perhaps it'll make my local government's own similar mistakes seem less obvious and stupid: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-asics-attempt-to-block-one-website-took-down-250000-20130605-2np6v.html http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/how-asics-a...
- marshray 13y ago
  It is not possible for anyone to block access to https://www.google.com/?q=specific+thing https://www.google.com/?q=specific+thing over a long period of time without either custom modifications to every affected client or help from Google itself. Google's long rocky experience with China proves exactly that.
  - bigiain 13y ago
    Not at a 100% level, but we know the Chinese government (and I suspect the UK government) are capable of deploying faked google.com SSL certs which'll pass unnoticed by just about anyone who's not using a certificate-pinning version of Chrome. And China(/Iran/Egypt) clearly has national-border level firewalls capable of using such faked SSL certs to MITM and deep packet inspect entire countries worth of internet traffic on the fly.
    - marshray 13y ago
      Yes, but they are not capable of getting away with it for any length of time.