[jaas]

As the person who negotiated the agreements between Let's Encrypt and Identrust I can tell you that they have provided valuable services, including but not limited to cross-signs. I would not describe it as rent seeking.

We are sincerely glad to have them as partners, and grateful for their contributions to helping get Let's Encrypt going. We could not have done what we did without them. Running a publicly trusted CA is not easy, and cross-signing others involves work and liability, particularly if the entity asking for a cross-sign is an upstart with a strange plan and little to no experience running a CA.