Carl,
I am somewhat sympathetic to some of the issues you raised.
However, in the context in which I was raising these issues, namely
the use of digital signatures for electronic commerce, whether
PEM-based or some as-not-yet-invented implementation
of the global public-key infrastructure of the future, I am afraid
that we have some more serious problems.
Rightly or wrongly, the civilized world has approximately
2000 years of experience in the use of physical tokens
(called money) which are used as an abstraction for
other things of value. Our legal systems go back somewhere
between 500 and 1000 years, depending on the particular
(civil or common law) legal tradition.
Even given a common legal system, 200 years of existance as a
country, and a high degree of motivation to solve these problems,
it took on the order of 20 to 25 years to revise the Uniform
Commercial Code within the United States and bring the various
practices with the states into reasonable conformity.
As Gus Simmons used to say, until about 1985 interest in the difficulty
of factoring large numbers was confined to perhaps a half dozen certifiable
irovy tower if not lunatic-fringe mathematicians, certainly not denizens
of the "real world". Suddenly, however, this recondite subject is of
intense interest, and may even have some practical application!
Wonders never cease, and may the grants keep all the graduate
students alive for one more year.
However, it is asking a bit much for a few billion people around the
world to suddenly abandon all their faith in tangible objects and grasp
an etherial RSA key for comfort. Hell, it was only 100 years ago or so
that William Jennings Byran was tearing up the political landscape
with his "Cross of Gold" speech, because the farmers and merchants
couldn't get the credit they needed because no one could dig the gold
out of the ground fast enough.
The trouble with the dormouse (sic) analogy is its too-rapid metabolism.
Rip van Winkle patience may be more in order when we start talking
about changing the basic paradigm and value systems of an entire
population.
In the meantime, early adoptors of this brave new world need not be
slowed down at all by such discussions. PEM is out there and can be
used, if perhaps not for legally binding purposes as yet (ask your
lawyer). No one is stopping you from using it, and I haven't heard any
of the designers or implementors tearing their hair out because
of the possibillity of changes in some version 1.1.
But I welcome someone coming in from time to time with a reality
check. It helps keep us all honest.
Bob