[ncc-services-wg] Improved Secure Communication for Registration Services (RS) Mailboxes

>I object on making x.509 the sole method of authenticated
>communication with RIPE.

>There's GPG, and it works, now.

I think this is an exageration. The only form of
authenticated communication which works now over the
Internet is SSL combined with HTTP. 

The choice of which secure technology is irrelevant.
The security features of the technology are irrelevant.

The only thing that matters is how easy will it
be to use the new technology and how will RIPE
teach people to use the technology and what tools
will RIPE make available to people to run on their
Windows machines, Macintosh machines and UNIX workstations
so that they can use this new technology as easily as
they use the web or email today.

GPG isn't necessarily any easier to learn and use
than X.509 is. Remember, the audience for this is the
LIR staff who administer IP address allocations. They
are not necessarily engineers or technical people.
They probably don't use UNIX workstations and they
probably don't know how to write scripts or use a 
command line.

--Michael Dillon