The CA/Browser Forum has officially voted to amend the TLS Baseline Requirements to set a schedule for shortening both the lifetime of TLS certificates.
On one hand, I agree with the technical merits. Having an automated process to renew short lived tls certs is “a good thing” and I think services like Let’s Encrypt have demonstrated such automation is viable (at large scale).
But, there are reasons why people pay money for tls Certs rather than use free (short lived) Certs. For example, there’s a mom-and-pop webhosting company that allows you to upload your tls Certs (they cost < $25 / year) or you can pay them $95 / year to use their Certs (and they just use Let’s Encrypt - lol)
The nearly 4x markup is their “convenience fee” or “dumb tax”. Regardless, once the 45 day tls Certs are enforced, I’ll have no choice in either paying their 4x markup or migrating to another platform.
I have mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, I agree with the technical merits. Having an automated process to renew short lived tls certs is “a good thing” and I think services like Let’s Encrypt have demonstrated such automation is viable (at large scale).
But, there are reasons why people pay money for tls Certs rather than use free (short lived) Certs. For example, there’s a mom-and-pop webhosting company that allows you to upload your tls Certs (they cost < $25 / year) or you can pay them $95 / year to use their Certs (and they just use Let’s Encrypt - lol)
The nearly 4x markup is their “convenience fee” or “dumb tax”. Regardless, once the 45 day tls Certs are enforced, I’ll have no choice in either paying their 4x markup or migrating to another platform.
… Having a choice is not always a bad thing…