SSL for IRR queries?

If there's a desire to trust information garnered from the Internet Routing Registry (eg. RADB, RIPE), it would seem that one would like a way to verify the server responding to queries. Is there a way to query the database using SSL or something else which can use digital certificates or other manner of keys which can be verified somewhat out-of-band? It would seem that it wouldn't be such a big deal to offer this capability not in lieu of, but just in addition to, the current "whois" protocol. No changes ought to be needed to the database language or back-end. Speaking of back-end, though, is there any verification that goes on in the mirroring process? Any comments or information are appreciated. Thanks, Tony