The Need to Filter HTTPSΒΆ

HTTPS protocol was designed to provide secure means of communications between internet browser and remote web servers. In order to achieve this goal HTTPS protocol encrypts data passing through established connections so that it cannot be decrypted in reasonable amount of time thus preventing anyone from sniffing the contents interchanged over this connection. This protocol was primarily invented to enable safe and secure communication between the user and financial sites or government institutions over the insecure medium such as the Internet.

Recently more and more web sites started to use HTTPS encrypted communications to increase online privacy of users. Google who as first enabled HTTPS for all its searches by default probably initiated this trend. Although there are no doubts that HTTPS encryption is a good thing for safety on the wire we must take into account that it also creates several problems for controlled networks typically found at home or offices. The main problem here is the essence of the HTTPS protocol itself - no one except the browser and the web server is able to see and thus filter transferred data. This may not always be desired. Contents that are usually blocked suddenly become immediately accessible by anyone. As an example imagine a school network where minors can see questionable content by just mistyping a search term in Google. Moreover the law often forces administrators in educational institutions to block access to such content (e.g. CIPA for educational environments) and encrypted access to web sites makes it nearly impossible to fulfill such an obligation.