[CodesInChaos]

A plain domain validated certificate cost like $10 for a year or two. So roughly the same cost as the domain name. Hardly a "high paywall".

[HideousKojima]

It meant a paper trail via CC payments (though fraudsters were likely to use stolen CCs, and they probably needed a CC to buy the domain name in the first place). But yeah it's basically not fundamentally different.

[kelnos]

Don't most domains cost $5 or less? I think it's pretty outrageous to have to spend 2x (or more) of the domain name cost to secure connections to it.

[manuelmoreale]

Not sure where you found that figure but most domains definitely don’t cost 5 or less. Most domains are 10+ in my experience.