[geographomics]

But if you look at the bylaws of the CA/B forum [1], they explicitly exclude discussion of "pricing policies, pricing formulas, prices or other terms of sale" as part of their mandate.

So we can't assume a position for or against revocation charges - it's just not within the scope of the guidelines. Which are non-binding and advisory anyway.

[1] https://cabforum.org/wp-content/uploads/CA-Browser-Forum-Byl...

[claudius]

I’m not against revocation charges per se, I’m against charges being paid prior to revocation. So a CA including something like “if we have revoke this cert, you have to pay 20$, we will revoke under these circumstances: …” would be perfectly fine with me – terms in legal contracts requiring one party to pay a certain amount if certain situations arise are not uncommon, so I don’t think this would have legal issues.

My problem is really that a CA says “we know this cert is bad but won’t revoke it, sorry about that”, just because the owner of the cert (someone absolutely irrelevant to me) doesn’t pay up.

[geographomics]

Could you outline a scenario where you make a request that someone else's certificate be revoked, yet it's of such little importance that you refuse to pay the $25 fee that may possibly be charged?