zlacker

The usual argument is that vanilla HTTP makes it possible for a man-in-the-middle (your ISP, presumably?) to tamper with data payloads before they're delivered.

Requiring HTTPS means you require clients to have up-to-date TLS certificates and implementations. This provides a ratchet that slowly makes it harder and harder to use old computers and old software to access the web. Forced obsolescence and churn is highly desirable for anybody who controls the new standards, including Google.

>>Rodger+(OP)
You can run TLS stacks that work with modern websites on old devices, it's just not really that secure, see https://www.dialup.net/wingpt/tls.html for running "Modern TLS/SSL on 16-bit Windows"