Wikipedia drops support for old Android smartphones; mandates TLSv1.2 to read

Tue Dec 31 13:45:11 UTC 2019

> On Dec 31, 2019, at 8:37 AM, Mike Hammett <nanog at ics-il.net> wrote:
> 
> Silicon Valley is typically out of touch with reality.
> 

I think this is a bit over the top and troll-ish but there is a big thing going on in circles where transport integrity and secrecy are tied together when it’s not necessary.

Not all mutual authentication needs to be done with certificates (for example).

Forcing all of wikipedia to be https is an example of the side-effects of this practice when combined with deprecating older versions of TLS and older ciphers, you will inevitably make the content inaccessible as a result.  The thought that we should all upgrade our devices (that work just fine) is a bit of a problem. 

If I have an old tablet that my kids use to do wikipedia and are now locked out, that’s forcing an expense on the end-user of that tech and creates more e-waste etc than necessary.  I’m not a fan of that either, but the painting a broad brush is not helpful to the conversation.

- Jared