As of June 29th, Reddit will be serving all of its pages over SSL encryption, the company announced in a recent post. The site is already available over SSL at https://www.reddit.com, but the new system will direct all connections to the SSL-protected version of the site. The result is a lot more privacy for users. Users connecting over SSL will be visible to networks as Reddit visitors, but any communication with the site will be entirely private. That means network operators can't see what username they're logged in under or which posts they're submitting to the site, an important feature for a site based on pseudonymous communities.

A number of sites have switched over to default encryption in recent weeks, including Wikipedia and all federal websites, driven largely by security concerns. SSL also prevents attackers from injecting malware into an otherwise legitimate data stream, an increasing concern in the wake of the Snowden leaks. At the same time, there are growing material incentives for companies that make the switch. In August, Google announced it would give a small boost in search rankings to sites using SSL, as a way of recognizing the appeal of a secure connection.