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Can someone explain to me why a news website needs HTTPS? Barring pages that require entry of financial information, why would you need to encrypt this kind of traffic? Is people snooping on what news articles you read a real concern?

Genuine question here.

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HTTPS provides integrity checks as well as encryption.

Would you want someone between you and the site modifying it's contents in transit?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailored_Access_Operations#QUA...

So ISPs and government entities and others can't see what you're reading.

Here's a longer answer at superuser:

https://superuser.com/questions/563851/how-isp-sees-the-http...

But, yes, since ISPs may be getting into the business of analyzing and selling our browsing habits, https limits the amount of information that they see such as what particular page is viewed on a site. Certainly, that doesn't stop other ways to track, but it's a reasonable one.

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