What if one could get their PGP key signed by an "
official of integrity appointed by state government" (e.g., a
Notary Public) or something similar? If a person could physically meet with a validated agent of
a centrally organized system of identity authentication, present ID, generate a PGP key-pair, then have this new public key signed by the trusted agent's key, that might enable PGP technology to become a viable form of secure communication for government agencies, banks, universities, etc. Currently, these corporations seem to use funky, ad-hoc methods of ID authentication, often for every transaction.
Significant infrastructure would be required to make this work - maybe a nonprofit corporation to develop and manage the technical policies and political negotiations; and maybe several businesses offering a variety of products and services to the various entities and agencies using the method.
Maybe this thread's title should have been something like: "Open-Source Business Model" or "Public Development Federation Plan". <smirk>