Should I use S/MIME?

[Simon Josefsson]

JOHN MOORE <johnmoore3rd at joimail.com> writes:

> If you truly wish to use S/MIME I highly recommend CAcert as a source to
> obtain a Free Certificate.

To give an alternative view, I'd recommend against CAcert.  Initially
I thought their service was a good idea, but when I signed up for a
certificate, they asked me for lots of personal details that I don't
feel comfortable giving out to some unknown organization.

If someone knows of a public X.509 CA that issue you a certificate if
you prove possession of a private key and an email address, I am
interested and would recommend it to others.  Heck, even one that give
you a certificate and a private key if you prove possession of an
email address would suffice.

Perhaps PGP keyservers could issue X.509 certificates for their users,
they have the email address and public key.

Thanks,
Simon