The Ethereum Foundation has announced support for Freedom of the Press Foundation’s work on WEBCAT. The open-source project lets a browser check whether an enrolled website serves resources that match a signed manifest.
The announcement points to a gap in ordinary HTTPS protection. An encrypted connection authenticates the site and protects the connection, but it does not by itself show that the page’s code matches a developer’s published release.
The described alpha Firefox extension can block an enrolled page when verification fails. This is a specific integrity check with an enrollment process, rather than a claim that every website is covered. The source explains the project’s current design and the work the grant supports.