14 DAY TRIAL // Google's quest for a more secure web is moving forward as Picasa Web Albums becomes one of the few big Google product to have HTTPS connections enabled by default. Picasa only introduced support for encrypted connections last month and they have now become the default. Every visit to and all communications with Picasa Web Albums will be done over the secure protocol.
There's no official announcement just yet, but the Google Operating System blog noticed the change and it seems that it's been enabled for everyone.
Now, any visit to a Picasa Web Albums page will automatically redirect you to the secured version of the site.
HTTPS support landed for Picasa early this year. At the time though, you had to specifically engage the site via a secured connection by using https:// instead of http:// at the beginning of the URL.
Those that knew what they were doing could enable the secure connection easily, but it didn't make much of a difference for the regular users since there was no option to permanently enable it and the feature wasn't very promoted.
Now though, everyone visiting Picasa will be switched over, most people will probably not even notice the difference. Picasa follows other Google products, notably Gmail, to have HTTPS as the default. Many Google Apps, including Docs, Calendar and Sites, also have it on by default.
Just like in Gmail, HTTPS in Picasa is used for the entire session. However, there doesn't seem to be a way to turn off HTTPS and use the regular, unencrypted HTTP. For those experiencing issues, Gmail offers this option.
Still, since most people wouldn't really care one way or another, Google is taking the safer approach and using the secure protocol by default all the time. Eventually, Google wants more and more of its products to use HTTPS to ensure the security and privacy of its users.