The HTTPS Everywhere add on for Firefox doesn’t encrypt your activities online itself but it does switch your connection on supported sites over to take advantage of SSL. I pay a lot more attention to services that offer encrypted connections but not all of them use it by default. And I certainly cannot keep track of all of those that offer SSL at all whether it is the default or not. I am pretty happy to see an add on that makes using more secure connections simple and automatic.
As always, even if you’re at an HTTPS page, remember that unless Firefox displays a colored address bar and an unbroken lock icon in the bottom-right corner, the page is not completely encrypted and you may still be vulnerable to various forms of eavesdropping or hacking (in many cases, HTTPS Everywhere can’t prevent this because sites incorporate insecure third-party content).
That’s a thoughtful reminder and reinforces that all this plugin does is make it easier to take advantage of a relatively more secure way of connecting to web sites than in the clear. Hopefully the add on will encourage more sites to offer a secure alternative.