Well, in this case:
1. The technical solution is trivial. You always have encryption, but http=self-signed cert, and no authentication, and no lock icon. https=CA cert, encryption, authentication, and lock icon.
2. There are strong government and corporate interests in being able to filter the open web. This closes the open web.
3. For the first time in my life, I have a comment on Hacker News or Reddit at -4. I've posted much more controversial things before (I do care about anonymity; I do use one-off cypherpunks accounts, so my post history won't indicate things). Good debate was virtually always well-received, up-voted, and not censored. The only exception was here, and one place where there was a strong, clear, well-financed astroturf campaign. That's one datapoint, but overall, the debate on the topic smells of financed astroturf rather than genuine grassroots.
1. The technical solution is trivial. You always have encryption, but http=self-signed cert, and no authentication, and no lock icon. https=CA cert, encryption, authentication, and lock icon.
2. There are strong government and corporate interests in being able to filter the open web. This closes the open web.
3. For the first time in my life, I have a comment on Hacker News or Reddit at -4. I've posted much more controversial things before (I do care about anonymity; I do use one-off cypherpunks accounts, so my post history won't indicate things). Good debate was virtually always well-received, up-voted, and not censored. The only exception was here, and one place where there was a strong, clear, well-financed astroturf campaign. That's one datapoint, but overall, the debate on the topic smells of financed astroturf rather than genuine grassroots.