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

I would certainly object against the PGP technology _which is in place now_ being phased out (soon). However, the NCC has reported that for _some_ applications/interfaces the integration of PGP into the server environment and with scripts is cumbersome. Although I do not have first hand experience of my own, I do not have any reason to question that. If one/some of the document(s) needs re-wording to make that clear, then we should put our effort into that. And yes, I still have to find the spare time to read the text this is referring to. [ taking off my DB-WG hat ;-] On a more private side, I still think that PKI technology is not mature enough, and stable enough, to be used in a production environment which is NOT based on a "point and click on demand" interface. OTOH, unless we start trying to do that, this will never change. Wilfried. _________________________________:_____________________________________ Wilfried Woeber : e-mail: Woeber@CC.UniVie.ac.at UniVie Computer Center - ACOnet : Tel: +43 1 4277 - 140 33 Universitaetsstrasse 7 : Fax: +43 1 4277 - 9 140 A-1010 Vienna, Austria, Europe : RIPE-DB: WW144, PGP keyID 0xF0ACB369 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the street finds its own use for technology...