[topranks]

If you can’t trust them then the whole thing crumbles anyway.

All you need to obtain valid TLS certs for any domain is to make a CA think you control the domain. So the CA’s trust in the DNS root is already functioning as the basis of X.509.

[tptacek]

You manifestly can't trust them today, couldn't yesterday, or for the last 30 years, despite the rise of e-commerce and the gradual shift of all applications to the web with its domain-validated WebPKI. Google doesn't DNSSEC sign. Facebook doesn't DNSSEC sign. No major bank I've found DNSSEC signs. AT&T doesn't DNSSEC sign, nor does Verizon. Some part of Comcast does, or did, and the net effect was that DNSSEC errors broke HBO NOW on launch day for Comcast users (and only Comcast users).

Tell me more about how the whole thing crumbles away? Because I'm pretty sure I'm typing into a TEXTAREA on the real HN, and not some facsimile a DNS hacker created to fool me. The Internet seems to be working fine without the government-run PKI you're saying we have to have.