Fragmenting the Web: The EU's Identity Power Play

Still a new viewpoint (bearing in mind that one of the authors is quite anti-EU):

"Whereas Let’s Encrypt and the ACME standard have succeeded in making digital certificates freely available and relatively easy to install, the issuance of QWACs cannot be automated. QWACs can only be issued by a Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), and these certificate authorities must be authorized by EU member states. This validation process involves verifying the legal status of the entity, which typically requires manual checks and documentation reviews to ensure compliance with the requirements, thus consuming more time and resources. This would in turn increase the cost of getting a certificate, creating a high-profit market for European QTSPs. This will effectively eliminate automated and free certificate issuers such as Let’s Encrypt from the EU market unless they change their process significantly."

Indeed: who benefits, financially?

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Cross-references for previous discussions:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38189084

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38187479