SSL for IRR queries?

[Tony Tauber <ttauber () genuity net>]

If there's a desire to trust information garnered
from the Internet Routing Registry (eg. RADB, RIPE),
it would seem that one would like a way to verify
the server responding to queries.

Is there a way to query the database using SSL or
something else which can use digital certificates
or other manner of keys which can be verified
somewhat out-of-band?

It would seem that it wouldn't be such a big deal
to offer this capability not in lieu of, but just
in addition to, the current "whois" protocol.
No changes ought to be needed to the database language
or back-end.  Speaking of back-end, though, is there
any verification that goes on in the mirroring process?

Any comments or information are appreciated.

Thanks,

Tony