The certificate gets their messages into systems that demand a certification, whether for transport or display.

But this is precisely the issue: what does the *certificate* get any of these people that a simple digital signature does not provide?

On Sat, 19 Aug 1995, Rich Salz wrote:

...

I think there are many people who might be willing to use an "anon CA" should it exist: Whistleblowers, perhaps Deep Throat would have used email People writing letters to the editor who don't want to trust the editor to withhold their info People who desire anonymyity yet don't want to trust the gov't to certify their communications as authentic/forged (Unabomber, Om Shin-rkyo) Any number of writers who have used psuedonyms and now want to get paid in ecash; Mark Twain?