StartSSL denies SSL certificate based on the current employee mood

This is why we need to decentralize the CA function. Let's Encrypt is a good start.

I can't get over how awful it is that in the year 2015 practically every website in the world is secured by paying gobs of money to a member of some shadowy cabal of random companies that are in every browser's default trust list because somebody knew somebody who knew somebody who worked at Netscape in 1995.

Had the same issue, with the very same person. I even tried to get personal validation and they wanted a phone bill with my name on it. Guess what, the company pays for the phone not me. To much hassle, so I went elsewhere.