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Encryption with a grey-globe-warning site (e.g., Staples.com) -- is it, or isn't it encrypted?

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  • Last reply by Dick

Dick
Dick
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[Firefox 14.0.1, Mac OS 10.6.8] 

Firefox, encountering Staples' "secure" checkout page, gives the partial-encryption warning and flags it with a gray-globe site-id-button, clicking on which says (as always in the case of gray-globes) that the page is partially encrypted.

I've already read the possible useful information on the forum about how to figure out which parts are encrypted (Page Info>Media).

But Mozilla's site ID button page (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-tell-if-my-connection-is-secure) says the gray-globe indicates "The connection between Firefox and the website is NOT encrypted and should not be considered safe against eavesdropping" (my emphasis).

So the warnings are inconsistent: "page partially encrypted" or "entire connection not encrypted." Which is it?

[Firefox 14.0.1, Mac OS 10.6.8] Firefox, encountering Staples' "secure" checkout page, gives the partial-encryption warning and flags it with a gray-globe site-id-button, clicking on which says (as always in the case of gray-globes) that the page is partially encrypted. I've already read the possible useful information on the forum about how to figure out which parts are encrypted (Page Info>Media). But Mozilla's site ID button page (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-tell-if-my-connection-is-secure) says the gray-globe indicates "The connection between Firefox and the website is NOT encrypted and should not be considered safe against eavesdropping" (my emphasis). So the warnings are inconsistent: "page partially encrypted" or "entire connection not encrypted." Which is it?

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
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From what I have seen, the gray globe is used for both zero and partial encryption. I realize that's not very helpful, and I haven't seen the warning triangle described in this article: How do I tell if my connection to a website is secure?

On some sites, reloading a page fixes partial encryption issues. Of course, on some sites, this could change your order...

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

Dick
Dick Question owner
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Your zero/partial experience is consistent with what I saw, but if that's actually the reality (dysfunctional), I'd appreciate hearing it from someone working on development who can confirm that that is the case, and if so, why they chose to build in such a flaw to what could be a very helpful/valuable feature unique to Firefox.

Staples (both consumer and tech support) told me this was an incompatibility with Firefox that they were working on and that I should try IE or Google Chrome. I told them that it was a problem with their site, and the only incompatibility was that Firefox was telling the truth and the other browsers were dodging the issue.

But maybe it IS a Firefox problem, thought not what they meant by that...