Google has gotten serious in regards to the way developers use SSL connections through the company’s APIs. Requests through Google Documents List, Google Spreadsheet and Google Sites APIs must use SSL connections as of September this year.
Many people don’t even realize when they are using an SSL connection, though a dead giveaway is the “https://” prefix at the beginning of a URL. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layers, and an SSL connection is made via HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). After September, if a developer tries to use an HTTP address, the action they are attempting will fail.
The Google code developer blog discusses the move, stating that “For most APIs, our technical documentation, client libraries, and code samples already use SSL. Many new APIs and versions will be SSL only. Further, the Google Maps API, which previously offered SSL only to Premier customers, is offering SSL to all developers starting today.”
