Comment by lukeschlather

Seems to me pretty clear that SSL is kind of a joke as far as security goes, a little like WEP wireless security. Yes, unlike WEP if everything is working properly SSL is in theory safe. But there are so many gotchas, from the byzantine CA system to the fact that most of the time when a browser warns you that a certificate is bad there's nothing wrong, SSL just doesn't hold up to a determined attacker (especially a government.)