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Why are google and youtube inconsistent with encrypted transmission of pages?

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Typically I get the padlock icon when I am on a google or youtube page but sometimes -- particularly recently -- I get the exclamation point with the further message that "the connection to this website is not fully secure because it contains unencrypted elements (such as images)." However, invariably when I refresh the page the padlock icon instead of the exclamation point appears. I don't understand why this happens since nothing otherwise on the page appears to have changed, and yet the refresh switches it from the exclamation point to the padlock icon. I'd appreciate any insight that someone can offer.

Typically I get the padlock icon when I am on a google or youtube page but sometimes -- particularly recently -- I get the exclamation point with the further message that "the connection to this website is not fully secure because it contains unencrypted elements (such as images)." However, invariably when I refresh the page the padlock icon instead of the exclamation point appears. I don't understand why this happens since nothing otherwise on the page appears to have changed, and yet the refresh switches it from the exclamation point to the padlock icon. I'd appreciate any insight that someone can offer.

All Replies (10)

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Some pages may have rotating ads to insecure pages, so you may get other links if you refresh the page.

You can open the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer) to check if there are (red) lines with [mixed]to see if that helps to identify the mixed content.

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If the gray triangle appears only after you use the Back button, it could be an issue with Firefox's cache. I think a user noticed this on the search results page in another thread.

If you find a way to repeatably get the gray triangle when you shouldn't, could you post the steps-to-reproduce?

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Here's the earlier thread about the Back button issue, from February (there may have been bug fixes related to this since then): ssl goes mix content on google after pressing back button?

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Thanks for the replies.

In the future I'll check the Web Console when the mixed content issue arises.

I haven't encountered the back button issue. If memory serves me correctly, when I had the triangle icon I would refresh the page which would give me the padlock icon, and then when I hit the back button the padlock icon then would remain.

Thanks again for the insights.

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I checked information from web console under the developer tool, and from my reading of it I get the exclamation point instead of the padlocked icon as a result of my use of the "Do Not Track Me" extension on my browser. Although I usually get the padlock icon on a page which is supposed to be fully secure I sometimes get the exclamation point, and the data from web console says "use of get PreventionDefault () is deprecated. Use defaultPrecated instead," and then there is a reference link to something like resource://dntme/content/lib/firefox.js" Is this something about which I should be concerned?

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Hi inquiringmind, I'm a little surprised that the extension would affect the status of items in the page because I don't think it actually adds anything to the page.

Does it make any difference if you reload the page (Ctrl+r)?

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Thanks for the quick response.

If I refresh the page the exclamation point usually -- but not always -- changes back to the padlock icon. But I did confirm again that when I get the exclamation point instead of the padlock icon on a google or youtube page I get the message "use of get PreventionDefault () is deprecated. Use defaultPrevented instead," and with a reference to resource://dntme/content/lib/firefox.js"

This phenomena also sometimes happen on my login pages for various accounts where I once always got a padlock icon but now sometimes get the exclamation point with the same message in the web console under developer tool stating "use of get PreventionDefault () is deprecated. Use defaultPrevented instead," and with a reference to resource://dntme/content/lib/firefox.js" Curiously, I've recently been getting the "do not track me" icon appearing in my user id field (but not password field) for these accounts which is a new phenomenon.

Should I be concerned about any of this?

Thanks so for for any insight you can provide. I appreciate it.

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If the extension is inserting an icon into the page, that could be causing the issue.

Since reload (usually) clears the problem, did you try the workaround in the other thread I mentioned? ssl goes mix content on google after pressing back button?

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Hi jscher2000:

I implemented the workaround you suggested a couple of days ago, and the issue seems to happen less frequently but it still arises occasionally. I ordinarily wouldn't be too concerned but I've used "do not track me" extension for a while, and it's odd that only recently it's started to cause the exclamation point to trigger instead of the padlock icon in the browser on occasion (although it's only been recently that the extension icon has appeared in user id field for login accounts -- I still don't understand, though, why the "do not track me" extension would cause issues with google or youtube where I am not on a login page unless the search field somehow triggers the extension). Anyhow, thanks again for all your help.

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I haven't used that extension myself, so I'm not sure exactly what it does. I wonder whether they have this covered in their FAQs or other support information?