2 ms·
Could we please consider not implementing something completely new, but fixing TLS client certificate auth, finally making it usable? Every browser out there su
by drdaeman 13y ago
Could we please consider not implementing something completely new, but fixing TLS client certificate auth, finally making it usable? Every browser out there supports this already, but UX is horrendous. All what was relatively polished over the years was the presentation of server certificate when you click on lock icon in location bar. The rest (selection of client certificate, generation of a new one, viewing a backing up of installed ones) remains needlessly scary to use by ordinary humans, so it can't be used except if we know users are quite tech-savvy.
Instead of bringing a new technology with known downsides (like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7219034 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7219034) we could give a second life to a known and provably working one. Doing so we could promote security (HTTPS), anonymity (not giving email address by default, unless one's provided with a signed certificate, chosen by user's decision) and independence from any service providers (including email and domain registrars) at the same time.
(Added after an hour) To illustrate my point: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fn4nuwszt5buuzd/tls_auth_ui.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/fn4nuwszt5buuzd/tls_auth_ui.png (mad design skills and windows 8, sorry for both; wording is not changed but I suppose it needs improvements, too)