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<span style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial;
line-height: 110%;">OPLIN 4cast #398: Google and
HTTPS</span><br>
<!-- Make sure you modify the date of the 4Cast in this section -->
<span style="font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal;
color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-style: italic;
font-family: arial;">August 13th, 2014</span></p>
<!-- Begin copy of Web Source here -->
<p style="text-align: justify;font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><img
src="cid:part4.09010406.01000200@oplin.org"
alt="padlock" align="left" height="110"
width="80">Google made an interesting <a
href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal_6.html">announcement</a>
last week. Because they want to promote the use of
secure, encoded HTTPS for website connections,
they are going to make HTTPS a "ranking signal"
for their search results. In other words, if a
website uses HTTPS, it will show up higher in a
Google search than a site that does not - maybe
only a little bit higher for now since this will
initially be just a minor ranking signal, but
Google confesses that they may make it a more
important signal later. Almost all the reaction
was positive, except for <a
href="http://searchengineland.com/seo-industry-tweets-reactions-googles-ssl-ranking-boost-199510">tweets</a>
from people who work in the search engine
optimization business, but as librarians,
shouldn't we be a bit concerned that the quality
of information might be judged based on its format
instead of its content, just so Google can make a
point about web security?
</p>
<div> </div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2462680/google-lowers-search-ranking-of-websites-that-dont-use-encryption.html">Google
Search starts penalizing websites that don't
use encryption</a> (PC World | Jeremy Kirk)
"The move is designed to spur developers to
implement TLS (Transport Layer Security), which
uses a digital certificate to encrypt traffic,
signified by a padlock in most browsers and
'https' at the beginning of a URL. As Google
scans Web pages, it takes into account certain
attributes, such as whether a Web page has
unique content, to determine where it will
appear in search rankings. It has added the use
of https into those signals, although it will be
a 'lightweight' one and applies to about 1
percent of search queries now..."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/08/in-major-shift-google-boosts-search-rankings-of-https-protected-sites/">In
major shift, Google boosts search rankings of
HTTPS-protected sites</a> (Ars Technica | Dan
Goodin) "TLS also provides a means for
cryptographically validating that a server
claiming to belong to Google, Bank of America,
or any other website is authentic, rather than
an impostor set up to trick users. Over the past
few years, American Civil Liberties Union
Principal Technologist Chris Soghoian has used a
carrot-and-stick approach to persuade more sites
to HTTPS-protect their pages. He sometimes
publicly chastises companies that transmit
sensitive information over unencrypted
connections."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/08/google-boosts-secure-sites-search-results">Google
boosts secure sites in search results</a>
(Electronic Frontier Foundation | Bill
Budington) "This week's announcement further
underlines a commitment to encrypting Internet
traffic and keeping user data safe, and
encouraging others to do so. We urge Google to
go further and carry out its plan to strengthen
the preference of HTTPS sites, as well as
favoring sites that have configured HTTPS
well..."</li>
<li style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><a
href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymagid/2014/08/07/google-to-reward-sites-with-http-security-in-search-rankings/">Google
to reward sites with HTTPS security in search
rankings</a> (Forbes | Larry Magid) "This is
one more example of the power of Google's
ranking system. While Google doesn't control
content on the web, its search is by far the
most effective way for content to be found so
anything a webmaster can do to increase a Google
ranking equates to more visitors and, in many
cases, more revenue."</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<p style="text-align: left; font-size: 20px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;"><small><strong><em>Articles
from <a href="http://ohioweblibrary.org">Ohio
Web Library</a>:</em></strong></small><br>
</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; font-size: 16px;
font-family: arial; line-height: 110%;">
<ul>
<li><a
href="http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=28caba93-97a2-4e36-8e17-a2cf44fc2cd1%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=65451920">How
to use an HTTPS- encrypted connection</a>. (<em>PC
World </em>, Oct. 2011, p94 | Nick Mediati)</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=d302dc39-f2a9-464d-b8c6-6b870fff9f4c%40sessionmgr110&vid=0&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=88916117">Stop
being evil: A proposal for unbiased Google
search</a>. (<em>Michigan Law Review</em>,
March 2013, p789-820 | Joshua G. Hazan)</li>
<li><a
href="http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a1748e15-e7c3-48e8-9f00-1ee8dfd9a2b1%40sessionmgr110&vid=0&hid=124&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=90072981">What
to do about Google?</a> (<em>Communications
of the ACM</em>, Sept. 2013, p28-30 | James
Grimmelmann)</li>
</ul>
</div>
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