Web browsers are used for communication by billions of people. One would think that with all the privacy and security issues facing individuals and companies on the web today, client-side encryption and signature verification would be the topmost priority for all browser vendors. Yet it's not the case.

Browser developers are in a unique position to solve the chicken-and-egg problem with client-side cryptography. Namely, it is only useful if a large portion of people you communicate with has it too. (This is not something that a standalone app or a plug-in can solve.)

I'm not aware of any attempts to tackle this problem by any of the major vendors. Are there any well-known reasons why? Are there any publicly accessible discussion about this among browser developers?