Zimmermann/NSA debate postponed

It seems to me that a prerequisite for a transparent, secure mail system is an efficient, interactive, IP based key distribution system. Wait! Reconsider! The problems of doing public key distribution are large, and not yet solved. Don't wait for a perfect world before trying to make a better one. The PEM folks got bogged down for four or five years with key distribution, only to need to put out version 2.0 because of lack of acceptibility. You need not repeat their mistake. Assume that key distribution happens somewhere else, and simply use the keys in some repository. Manual key distribution will work just fine for common correspondents, and that's most ofthe problem. Eric