Re:Final Removal of Trust in WoSign and StartCom Certificates
by ivanr on Saturday July 08, 2017 @05:44PM
(#14727336)
I've already explained in one of my earlier posts in this very thread: In my opinion, it was dishonest to advertise certificates as "100% free" when they charged for revocation.
Just because the revocation charges were documented somewhere on the web site doesn't make it right. A large percentage of certificates is revoked. Revocation is a normal and expected part of certificate lifecycle. Thus they should have been crystal clear upfront saying "we charge for revocation" in the same sentence where they said "we don't charge for issuance". They could have mentioned it on the same page, but they didn't do that either (I just checked their "free" certificate page from a random point in time.) So ask yourself why they didn't put such an important fact where most people would see it.
Just because the revocation charges were documented somewhere on the web site doesn't make it right. A large percentage of certificates is revoked. Revocation is a normal and expected part of certificate lifecycle. Thus they should have been crystal clear upfront saying "we charge for revocation" in the same sentence where they said "we don't charge for issuance". They could have mentioned it on the same page, but they didn't do that either (I just checked their "free" certificate page from a random point in time.) So ask yourself why they didn't put such an important fact where most people would see it.