Encrypt Your Website For Free

Announcing Let's Encrypt, a new free certificate authority. This is a joint project of EFF, Mozilla, Cisco, Akamai, and the University of Michigan.
This is an absolutely fantastic idea.

The anchor for any TLS-protected communication is a public-key certificate which demonstrates that the server you're actually talking to is the server you intended to talk to. For many server operators, getting even a basic server certificate is just too much of a hassle. The application process can be confusing. It usually costs money. It's tricky to install correctly. It's a pain to update.
Let's Encrypt is a new free certificate authority, built on a foundation of cooperation and openness, that lets everyone be up and running with basic server certificates for their domains through a simple one-click process.
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The key principles behind Let's Encrypt are:

• Free: Anyone who owns a domain can get a certificate validated for that domain at zero cost.
• Automatic: The entire enrollment process for certificates occurs painlessly during the server's native installation or configuration process, while renewal occurs automatically in the background.
• Secure: Let's Encrypt will serve as a platform for implementing modern security techniques and best practices.
• Transparent: All records of certificate issuance and revocation will be available to anyone who wishes to inspect them.
• Open: The automated issuance and renewal protocol will be an open standard and as much of the software as possible will be open source.
• Cooperative: Much like the underlying Internet protocols themselves, Let's Encrypt is a joint effort to benefit the entire community, beyond the control of any one organization.