Author here. As the article mentions, this is how DV SSL works. The issue is that most people outside tech are conditioned to trust DV identifiers.<p>As a side note, newer versions of Chrome have stopped using &#x27;identity&#x27; for domain validated certificates.<p>A domain validated cert in Chrome in 47.0.2526.106 <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;RiISSrU.png" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;RiISSrU.png</a><p>A domain validated cert in Chrome 49.0.2618.0 no longer refers to &#x27;identity&#x27; <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;XkaPDwx.png" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;XkaPDwx.png</a><p>The term &#x27;identity&#x27; remains in use with extended validation certs - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;j7fKGt1" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;imgur.com&#x2F;j7fKGt1</a>