I need a service that issues free SSL certificates for my web server. 
No hidden strings either, or free trials.  I had one with
GeoTrust/FreeSSL but they started charging to renew it.  Idealy it
would be issued by a trusted root SSL CA (so IE and Netscape trust it
by default).

Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by iaint-ga on 13 Nov 2002 02:36 PST

Hello ghettoboy

I suspect that you will not be able to find an issuing authority --
especially one of the major trusted roots -- who will provide you with
a free SSL certificate for the same reason that you cannot just walk
into a store and obtain a free computer. SSL certificates are a major
product line for these companies and it makes no economic sense to
just give them away for free when they could be making lots of money
from them.

However there are a number of smaller issuers who provide
comparatively cheap certificates. Would information about these
suffice and if so, what is the maximum you'd be prepared to pay?

Regards
iaint-ga

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Clarification of Question by ghettoboy-ga on 15 Nov 2002 21:14 PST

I am looking for a free certificate.

Back in the day when everything online was free, there were quite a
few companies who gave out free basic SSL certificates.  The
certificate I had from GeoTrust/FreeSSL was free but now they charge
to renew it.

So to answer your clarification, I am looking for someone who still
gives them out for free.

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Request for Question Clarification by mosquitohawk-ga on 17 Nov 2002 10:05 PST

Greetings ghettoboy-ga,

I own an internet services company and as long as I've been doing
this, I haven't run across any SSL-issuing companies that will provide
them for free, BUT, you do have an interesting alternative.

Shared-SSL! A lot of hosting companies will purchase their own SSL and
allow all their hosting clients to share it.

Try searching google.com using "free ssl hosting" or follow this link:

://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=free+ssl+hosting

If this 'clarification' satisfies your answer, just post so and I'll
claim the answer, otherwise, you can continue to wait and see ;)

Good luck!

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Request for Question Clarification by funkywizard-ga on 18 Nov 2002 01:23 PST

I would like to let mosquitohawk-ga know that this is not an
acceptable answer to the question. Normally I would not presume to
know this information, nor would I attempt to speak for an asker, but
I personally know ghettoboy and his hosting setup, and he needs a
dedicated SSL certificate since he runs his own webserver. Thanks for
the idea though.

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Request for Question Clarification by mosquitohawk-ga on 18 Nov 2002 05:17 PST

Thanks funkywizard-ga for the clarification,

I have found another resource for ghettoboy-ga that would most likely
serve his needs particularly since he runs his own webserver. Upon
finding out that info, I researched an open-source solution.

There is an open-source program called OpenSSL that has been in
development and gone through many upgrades since 1998. The most
current version, 0.9.6g was released on August 9, 2002 so is very
uptodate. The url for OpenSSL is http://www.openssl.org and their FAQs
page is http://www.openssl.org/support/faq.cgi.

This program, upon installation on the webserver, allows the admin to
create and generate SSL certificates. Because this program has an
open-source license, you can use it for free!

Of course, this doesn't meet the need to be from a trusted root SSL
CA, but in my opinion, is the best alternative since you're not going
to find any of the issuers giving them out for free anymore. You can
circumvent this by reading FAQ #5. This gives instructions on how to
make the certificate a 'trusted' certificate.

If this meets the needs for the answer, let me know and I'll claim it.

Best regards!

If you explain what the letters SSL mean and some other details you
may get more coments or answers.   Neil

Hello, ghettoboy is actually my hosting provider, and as such I know
what he is looking for (but not where to find it). SSL stands for
secure sockets layer. A certificate is basically something that tells
people that visit your website that your encryption used for
connecting to your website via SSL can be trusted. My friend's SSL
certificate has expired, and as such, every visitor using ssl on his
site gets a nasty message saying that his certificate has expired, and
asks if they still want to trust it anyway. He is looking for a new
one... free. Since browsers by default only trust certificates that
come from the root certifying authorities, he is looking for a
certificate that can be gotten for free from one of the main root
level certifying authorities.

Since he already has a non-automatically trusted certificate
(expired), he has no use for a certificate that is issued by a
provider that is not automatically trusted by common browsers.

I hope this helps you researchers solve his problem.

The problem is very well defined, and made even clearer by
funkywizard's additional information. However the days when valuable
information was given away free in the IT world have vanished with the
collapse of the dot-com "boom" and the general global economic
downturn. Whereas once you could get almost anything free on the
internet (webspace, POP3 accounts, SSL certificates) today at best
you'll get something that's supported by advertising, and more
generally you have to pay real money. That's why I'm not optimistic
about ghettoboy's chances of finding a free SSL certificate provider.

My initial searches have proved fruitless, but I do, however, wish him
the best of luck in finding one.