In-Flight Service Gogo Uses Fake SSL Certificates To Throttle Streaming

Amanda Parker writes In-flight internet service Gogo has defended its use of a fake Google SSL certificates as a means of throttling video streaming, adding that it was not invading its customer's privacy in doing so. The rebuttal comes after Google security researcher Adrienne Porter Felt posted a screenshot of the phoney certificate to Twitter. From the article: "The image clearly shows that Gogo signed the certificate, not Google, thus misleading customers and opening the door to malware on users' devices. It also serves as a way to throttle data and limit traffic on its networks. 'Gogo takes our customer's privacy very seriously and we are committed to bringing the best Internet experience to the sky,' CTO Anand Chari said in a Monday statement."

Comments

How about simply throttling data rate as normal?

[thisisauniqueid]

There's no reason they need to decrypt connections to throttle them. Throttling after a threshold data burst rate over a sustained period of time would be sufficient.

Re:Get What You Pay For

[jonnythan]

They could say something like this:

Bandwidth at 30,000+ feet is inherently limited, and heavy-load activities like streaming videos from the ground can weigh down our network. That means playback is subject to poor video quality, buffering, and slower connection speeds for your fellow passengers.

Oh wait. That's exactly what they say. They're very up-front about not being able to stream video.