SSL Posting

[gahz]

Hi,

I've noticed that uploads are slower and not as stable when using SSL. I'm not on a public network and don't get throttled. Should I still be using SSL to protect my login or is this unnecessary?

[SonsOfLiberty]

Well it depends are which server/provider your using...my provider right now and using SSL nets me no difference to non-SSL.

It's a personal preference I think, but by LAW, they cannot crack SSL....

[zot]

I would cast my vote for "unnecessary" - and I'd also like to know which provider you use, gahz.

In my experience using SSL NNTP servers over the last 4 or 5 years I've occasionally noticed significantly slower speed (and an irregular bandwidth graph) compared to the provider's non-SSL server. Adding more connections always helped, but often even that was not enough to achieve full speed. (I never bothered to report the problem since I knew that running SSL puts a high load on their servers, and figured that everyone else was probably affected as well)

Unless I was on a public WI-FI, I'd usually just use the provider's non-SSL server as a solution. But while SSL speed problems were quite common a few years ago on budget providers that offered free SSL like Usenetserver, it seems it's rarely an issue these days.

Since you say your ISP doesn't throttle NNTP and you're not on an open wireless network, then I can't see any compelling reason to use SSL for uploading. (assuming you don't live in a speech-restrictive country like Iran or China and you're posting naughty stuff) A lot of people will disagree with me whenever I say that SSL is unneccessary (and a waste of server resources) for most typical home users, but like USPs that offer 50+ connections, I would agree that SSL can be a godsend to the rare few who actually require it.

[ericab]

It's a personal preference I think, but by LAW, they cannot crack SSL....

sources; or no.

[gahz]

I use Astraweb with PowerPost A&A + Stunnel.

[chakara]

I use AW, Easy Usenet Upload & Stunnel and upload speeds are the same with or w/o SSL.

[Beck38]

Tried PowerPost w/ sTunnel a bit ago, and found that my setup (PC + my network) was slow in comparison to the 'basic' Powerpost.

But transitioned to JBinup, and even though it takes a bit more memory, it's fast as slick whether SSL or not, and the auto-retry/repost works about 99% of the time, virtually eliminating 'skips' from the posting end, a big plus in this day and age of 50GB HiDef postings.

[SonsOfLiberty]

It's a personal preference I think, but by LAW, they cannot crack SSL....

sources; or no.

Are you saying I need to link sources? Umm you know all banking sites and most websites use SSL for logging in and such, yeah it's so legal to "go around SSL" and see the infomration being sent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security

It's illegal in the US to even try to hack or spoof it.

[ericab]

It's illegal in the US to even try to hack or spoof it.

its not.