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There's a world of difference between a well-designed pubkey interface like ssh-agent and what you get in today's browsers.

I don't know how feasible it would be to replace passwords for the general public, but if browser vendors were actually serious about security, they could go a very long way towards making client certs feasible just by giving up on their current strategy of putting their fingers in their ears and pretending it doesn't exist.

Something similar in Spain, your mandatory ID card is a smart card, and you can also ask for free personal certificates from the Royal Mint. Works really great to do paperwork from home, but only a minority uses it.

So when are the browser vendors going to fix their interfaces?