the WT sites appeared to be down yesterday and now theyre up (could be any number of reasons) - now i dont look thru the site very regularly so i dont know if this is new but the site contact tool has been moved behind a secure ssl layer using this securesites.com and in fact, the entire site is accessible thru it:
just curious why they would need ssl. typically, this is only needed for transactional processes or sending sensitive info. is the name and address mailform considered senstive enuf to warrant this? i spose it could be. any info?
I have their website in my "favorites" so I went to their site via that way and the site didn't show an ssl icon but through your link it did.
I did notice though, that clicking onto "Media" button, that page had this button to click onto called:
Media alert Notification via E-mail for journalists when new information is posted on jw-media.org.
So I clicked and it is for journalists to send their email addresses to the HQs, to receive JW news releases, and it says it is ssl protected for the journalists' privacy.
I don't know if the "Media Alert" selection is a new one or not. Can't remember from my past visit there.
hmm, well i noticed the media register link but again, i dont know if thats new or not. i DIDN'T notice the privacy policy tho and the mention of SSL, however i can say that the form submission on the media site is definitely NOT SSL-encrypted, so perhaps this is very new and they havent got everything switched over yet
If you click onto the Media alert to the email registration form to fill out, you will see at the bottom of the page under the "submit" button, the "Your Privacy" button to click onto and that page says in part:
Your Privacy Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watch Tower Society are committed to protecting your privacy. We use the information you submit to process your request. Please read on for more details about our privacy policy.
What information do we collect? How do we use it?
We need to know your name and E-mail address. This allows us to process and fulfill your request.
How does Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (Watch Tower) protect information?
When you submit information, we offer the use of a secure server. The secure server software (SSL) encrypts all information you input before it is sent to us. Furthermore, all the data supplied is protected against unauthorized access.
One difference I did notice is that the pictures on the first page accessed are different depending on how you access them. The old one (from my favorites connection) still shows the picture of the man praying in the top left corner, but the page I get using your URL is identical in layout but the pictures are different.
Curious...
Also I can access that form registration and the "your privacy" notice from both sources but your way has the ssl icon and from my "favorites" there is no ssl icon.
Hey I tried to figure this one out about six months ago, no one had any ideas.
I thought that secure sites would not only record your email etc, but also your IP address without your permission.
I also could not IMAGINE, since there are no financial transactions on the site, where they would need to use this. Journalists WANTexposure. I could NEVER imagine that a credible journalist asking for information would be concerned about his or her email address being 'hacked'. This must be the old JW paranoia.
The only other thing I could think of is whether they're going to start taking contributions via the web, then that way any sucker could just bypass the KH route and send their money directly to Crooklyn.
yeah, thanks hadenuf - i had found the privacy link after you mentioned it the first time. what it says is true with respect the watchtower.org form but not the jw-media.org one, from which the same privacy form is linked. anyways its no big deal. the most likely explanation for the difference in content is the site's been updated since the last content dump to the secure server.
ldh: any web server records your IP and browser details, secure or not. an SSL server simply uses 2-way encryption to transmit the data and prevent an eavesdropper from making any use of it. i spose considering that the wt.org form asks not just name and address but phone number, best time to call, etc. they may consider this info sensitive enuf to warrant SSL.
