Well, the fundamental point you haven't mentioned here is that the PGP keyserver network, past and present, is entirely a volunteer-based service.
as are almost all the dns root servers. and, despite occasional hysterical whining on this list, they provide a serious production service on which we are all successfully betting our asses. this is not to say that i do not deeply appreciate the current volunteer efforts. but, as we rely more and more on pgp, we need a serious production quality service.
One thing I would like to see is more ISPs running keyservers for the use of their customers.
i wonder if a few of the large providers might be able to field a production quality distributed service. or help the current volunteers to do so.
I attended the Keyserver Managers Symposium in Holland last month. A lot of great ideas were presented, and a lot of problems discussed. One thing is clear, and that is that the current PGP keyserver network needs to be redesigned if it is to scale to another order of magnitude as far as capacity.
plan for a few orders of magnitude.
I expect that we will see good things happen in this regard in the next year or so.
how can providers help? and now, not in the vague future. randy