A new feature has been discovered in the Google Chrome codebase that will cause the browser to automatically block downloads from insecure HTTP resources. Previously, this was considered the norm, but now most sites have enabled HTTPS encryption to protect user data.

Earlier in the Chrome settings, a checkbox "Always use secure connections" appeared, the selection of which causes the browser to start trying to connect to sites with HTTPS. Legacy HTTP-only resources are marked as "insecure" in the address bar. Now the user will see a warning every time they try to download data via HTTP. Most often, Chrome will also report the blocking of the corresponding content, but after studying the warning, the user will be able to remove this blocking and still download the necessary file.

The updated feature will probably not make it in time for the stable Chrome 111 release, which is expected in March 2023, but it could very well debut with a preview version of the browser later this year.

I wrote about this long ago.

As soon as they'll do it - they'll have ideal tool to destroy any site their AI bots won't like for any reason - they'll just revoke certificate. As far as I know most of Russian internet sites and many Chinese will be banned such way. And will require manual install of root certificates and most probably also special patching or option turnoff.