Wikimedia has turned on HTTPS encryption for all of its websites by default, making user browsing safer and making it harder for governments and hackers to track traffic on Wikimedia's websites.
While the organization has enabled HTTPS encryption in the past, previously it only affected logged-in users, meaning those who wanted the encryption had to create an account.
"The HTTPS protocol creates an encrypted connection between your computer and Wikimedia sites to ensure the security and integrity of data you transmit," said the company in a blog post. "Encryption makes it more difficult for governments and other third parties to monitor your traffic. It also makes it harder for Internet service providers (ISPs) to censor access to specific Wikipedia articles and other information."
Wikimedia did a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure that the transition to HTTPS was smooth, including making sure that it was calibrated in a way that would help it perform in places with poor Internet connections. This should help cut down on loading time.
The higher use of bandwidth is one of the principle reasons that organizations are holding off on implementing HTTPS encryption. Even Wikimedia itself has cited this problem in the past. While this isn't as much an issue in the United States, for an international organization like Wikimedia, the issue is one to certainly consider before making the switch to HTTPS.
While the company did its best to support a wide range of devices and connection speeds, it does warn that it remains to be seen how the change affects users in certain parts of the world.
"People around the world access Wikimedia sites from a diversity of devices, with varying levels of connectivity and freedom of information," continued the company. "Although we have optimized the experience as much as possible with this challenge in mind, this change could affect access for some Wikimedia traffic in certain parts of the world."
Of course, Wikimedia websites have supported HTTPS encryption manually for four years through projects like HTTPS Everywhere, which offers browser extensions making it easier to browse the web using HTTPS encryption. It has also offered HTTPS encryption when users were brought to Wikimedia websites through search engines.
Using heightened encryption methods is becoming increasingly important for websites, with the news that Wikimedia would be making the transition coming shortly after the U.S. government sent out a directive for all federal agencies to switch to HTTPS encryption for their websites.
