[semi-cross posted from: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7557764]

There was an interesting thread on the subject of starting a CA on the crypto-list last year ("How much does it cost to start a root CA ?"), see eg:

http://lists.randombit.net/pipermail/cryptography/2013-Janua...

http://lists.randombit.net/pipermail/cryptography/2013-Janua...

http://lists.randombit.net/pipermail/cryptography/2013-Janua...

And for good measure, on the subject of certs and trust, the thread after:

"another cert failure" (2011)

http://lists.randombit.net/pipermail/cryptography/2013-Janua...