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Comment by ColdHawaiian | Hacker News Reader

Why would using SSL makes a difference, if all we're doing is just reading an article? I don't understand.

Subject has been found to have accessed the following listed publications:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship's_cat
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_of_Savagery
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F-91W
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_peroxide

Subject has been flagged for FRUITFLY, AFFECTIONATEOCTOPUS, EMBARRASSEDGIBBON, ■■■■RAG■■■■ and as crucial target in operation SPRINGDOM.

Profiling people based on what wikipedia pages they view is not a difficult thing to do.

Https doesn't encrypt the URL you are reading, which kind of gives away what content you're reading when it comes to wikipedia.

Yes it does. Your dns request for the hostname and the ip address you connect to might give away the fact that you're reading wikipedia but the actual path will be encrypted.

Unfortunately, this is of no help if Wikipedia or it's hosting provider (and therefore every machine it runs on) is compromised.

Surely it does. Did you think GETs are transferred before the encrypted connection is established?

It absolutely does encrypt the URL aside from the IP you're connecting to.

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