Due to network latency & asymmetry, even widely trusted time sources can drift by ±50ms or more.
HTTPS-based synchronization has inherent protocol limitations that prevent true atomic accuracy.
Engineers on NTP forums have confirmed that half of RTT (Round Trip Time) is the firm limit—meaning most public clocks are way less accurate than we assume.
This raises some serious questions:
1⃣ How bad is the drift in real-world applications?
2⃣ Is there a way to make HTTPS time synchronization truly accurate?
3⃣ Are industries (finance, security, cryptography) unknowingly relying on bad time data?
I’m curious if others have tested this or if this is an even bigger problem than we think.
Some engineers are experimenting with ways to push accuracy below 10ms, but there’s no widespread solution yet. Thoughts?
