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"the authenticity of the received data could not be verified" - due only to satellite connection latency. Why block it?

GordonFrank
GordonFrank
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Recently I am getting the message "the authenticity of the received data could not be verified" from sites which are usually not blocked by Firefox. It is pretty clear from the initial part of the error message "The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading." that this is due to long latency gaps in the very slow satellite broadband inflicted on rural Australians by the national government through NBN.

Tried to upload a screenshot of the error message - won't load because the satellite broadband is so slow - see what I mean. But I don't expect to be penalised by Firefox because of this. By all means tell me that there may be an authenticity problem and then let me decide whether to ignore it or act on it. I don't need a nanny browser.

But on a technical basis, why can't Firefox distinguish between this issue and received data which really has authenticity problems?

Recently I am getting the message "the authenticity of the received data could not be verified" from sites which are usually not blocked by Firefox. It is pretty clear from the initial part of the error message "The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading." that this is due to long latency gaps in the very slow satellite broadband inflicted on rural Australians by the national government through NBN. Tried to upload a screenshot of the error message - won't load because the satellite broadband is so slow - see what I mean. But I don't expect to be penalised by Firefox because of this. By all means tell me that there may be an authenticity problem and then let me decide whether to ignore it or act on it. I don't need a nanny browser. But on a technical basis, why can't Firefox distinguish between this issue and received data which really has authenticity problems?

All Replies (2)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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The "Secure Connection Failed"page typically has scanty information about the problem. Often it just means, as you surmised, "connection failed." Not sure if anything here helps: Secure connection failed and Firefox did not connect.

GordonFrank
GordonFrank Question owner
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If in a particular instance "the connection failed" then that would be a useful error message.

If it is only "connection failed" and Firefox is also saying "the authenticity of the received data could not be verified" then this is misleading. Did they receive data and then decide that its authenticity was suspect?

Is there an authenticity issue because the "connection was reset while the page was loading"? I suspect that on slow satellite broadband connections with high latency there are many connections that are reset while loading. In which case Firefox is jumping at shadows and should not be issuing what is effectively an error warning which, according to information they provide elsewhere, should result in the user sending the site's owners a message that their authentication is not up to date.