[1vuio0pswjnm7]

Two of the websites I use everyday do not even require a domain name. I just use the IP address. With the rise of shared hosting especially driven by added costs of https, it's not possible to use IP address with most sites today but it's sure nice to be free from the ICANN DNS cartel and to not have to run DNS software. Before long, I have the addresses memorised. I never try to memorise them, it just happens automatically after a while. Reminds me of how we memorise phone numbers.

[charlus]

That's remarkable to me - I feel like my internet life hasn't been so sheltered not to come across this before, but it also feels so obvious in retrospect. Do share some examples if you don't mind.

[1vuio0pswjnm7]

The two I had in mind are meteorological websites. One I use for rain radar images, the other for hour-by-hour wind speeds.

But here's two more easy examples, InterNIC and NetBSD.

https://192.0.32.9

https://192.0.32.9/domain/root.zone

https://199.233.217.201/pub/

There are undoubtedly many, many more examples across the internet. FTP servers, along with HTTP mirrors of those FTP servers are some obvious examples where hostnames are often not required.

There seems to a web developer-driven, cargo cult mentality against use of IP addresses, but AFAICT search engines do not try to hide IP addresses; I sometimes get them in SERPS.

Historically IP addresses were supported in smtpd software, too. For example, qmail still supports IP addresses, if enclosed in brackets.

[mdonahoe]

Are you using https?

[1vuio0pswjnm7]

Yes.

[creeble]

What are you using for CN?

[1vuio0pswjnm7]

I am the client not the server. Maybe you are asking whether I check the CN or compare the certificates every time I connect against ones I have stored locally. I could, but for these two sites I don't. Am I worried about someone spying on the local rain radar images or wind speed data I am retrieving. No. There's nothing confidential about this information. Nor am I worried about being secretly routed to an "evil weather service impersonator" without me detecting the change. One of the adresses belongs to a government agency. These addresses do not change often, if ever.

Doesn't Lets Encrypt allow IP adddresses for the CN.

[creeble]

> Doesn't Lets Encrypt allow IP adddresses for the CN.

No:

https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/ssl-on-a-ip-instead-of-d...