> people who use the internet who don't care about https, much less know what it is.

While I agree, I do not believe this is an appropriate excuse for ignorance (I am not accusing you of anything, just criticizing the viewpoint itself).

Computers are part of life. People know about antibiotics, vaccine, stem cells, black holes, and they know atomic radiation causes cancer and the same material can be used for atomic bombs, about wavelengths, and certain ones (UV) cause cancer by breaking DNA, etc.

But, not technology? How is there such a well-formed ignorance when it comes to technology? It's fed to us by the media too, who cite "computer glitches"[1,2,3] when something goes wrong, or when there is a breach of the system and all credentials stolen.

And, not understanding URLs leads to susceptibility to information being stolen from phishing attacks. Whose "fault" is there here?

[1] "Glitch" http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/26/news/companies/delta-ticket-...

[2] "Something broke" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/08/departmen...

[3] "Glitch" http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/48088061

Just like learning what stoplights mean when driving a car, those users need to adapt to the basic signals of the web.

Those "basic signals of the web" are useless to the user. They carry no meaningful information for them.

You don't need to learn about the Dewey decimal system when reading books, either. For the same reason - it's helpful for finding things, it allows you to classify books, and it doesn't matter at all since there are better ways to find books now.

There's no web surfing license or web surfing test, that's the big difference.

Because people like you, and "UI/UX experts", have put so much effort into downplaying and hiding simple important pieces of information. This shit is as easy, and as useful, as traffic signs.