This will be a bit of a Canada-centric post.

CraveTV is a service run by Bell Canada. It's a Netflix style service and is the main (legal) way to get HBO shows in canada without getting cable. I don't have a TV and I don't want cable, so I subscribed to CraveTV so I could watch The Wire and The Handmaid's Tale.

My first alarm bell was rung when I entered my credit card details and had to select my card type. It is trivial to determine a card type based on the beginning of the card number, there is simply no excuse for it in 2017 (or ever).

Sadly, things progressed from bad to worse. Though the subscription is secured with HTTPS, the main CraveTV site itself is not. If you attempt to use HTTPS it redirects you back to plain old HTTP. This also includes the account settings page, payment settings (though the card number is thankfully obfuscated) and payment history.

The last thing I'm going to complain about is the use of Adobe Flash player. Flash player, really?! I thought those days were behind us, but no, it is just CraveTV that is stuck in the past.

I really hope that Bell will drag CraveTV into the 21st century at some point soon, until then Canadians will just have to put up with unsecured connections, using insecure plugins from the 1990s.

UPDATE: It looks like CraveTV is now doing some HTTPS. Could have been a temporary problem or it might be inconsistent, I'll keep an eye ut.