Today Automattic joins Google, Mozilla, Twitter, Reddit, and other companies across the web in announcing its support for Reset the Net campaign against mass surveillance, which takes place on the internet today.
Because the NSA continues to exploit weak links in internet security in order to spy on the world, the only way for companies to fight back is to build better security into their products. The campaign encourages citizens to commit to using apps that protect their devices from prying government eyes.
In an effort that goes far beyond simply displaying a banner, Automattic announced that it will be implementing SSL for all *.wordpress.com subdomains by the end of the year. Paul Sieminski, General Counsel for Automattic, reaffirmed the company’s commitment to secure the connection between users and WordPress.com websites:
If we’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s that encryption, when done correctly, works. If we properly encrypt our sites and devices, we can make mass surveillance much more difficult.
As of May this year, 409 million people view more than 14.5 billion pages each month on the WordPress.com network, which includes Jetpack-enabled self-hosted sites. By the end of the year, SSL will be in place for anyone viewing a site hosted on WordPress.com. It’s important to note that SSL is already forced for WordPress.com admin areas.
If you want to join in this historic push to secure the web, visit Reset the Net to learn about specific ways that you can protect yourself and others to make mass government surveillance more difficult. Self-hosted WordPress sites can join in the campaign with the Reset the Net splash screen plugin, available for free on WordPress.org.
Awesome to see Automattic fighting back again.
It’s stuff like this that makes me proud to be in the WordPress community.