Will downgrade positive SSL designations — Google Chrome

Rather than focus on positive indicators, Chrome will focus on negative indicators for sites without SSL.

Google has been on a mission to get website owners to add an SSL certificate to their website. It has used its market power with the Chrome browser to positively identify sites with SSL and to negatively identify those without SSL.

Over time, as more and more sites have SSL, the firm plans to remove the positive identifiers for sites with SSL and instead just focus on negative identifiers for sites without https. Here are the changes it’s making:

Google is upping the ante on sites without SSL while it ratchets down the notices for secure sites. All sites without an SSL certificate will show Not Secure in the address bar, and this will become red when people enter information into a form.

The move makes sense and actually solves a problem with Chrome’s treatment of SSL. By denoting sites with SSL in a positive way, Google might be sending the false impression that the site is safe. But it’s easy for a phisher or other scammer to get a domain-validated SSL certificate.