Who said a word about looking at a certificate?

I said exactly the words I meant.

> I don't look at the browser bar or symbols on it. I care what my bookmarks do, what URLs I grab from history do, what my open tabs do, and what happens when I type things in.

Without the identity component, I can't trust that those things I care about are insulated from local interference. With the identity component, I say it's fine to connect to random public wifi. Without it, it wouldn't be.

That's the relevant level. "Is it ok to connect to public wifi?" With identity validation, yes. Without, no.