Sounds good -- should probably do more UI work along with?
I'd like to also see some thought on the interface. But it should also be possible to make the backend changes without touching the existing UI much.
Definitely; the current UI interface is pretty cruddy. If we're now referencing protections as unique object, there should probably be some refactoring on the backend into a Protection class (or maybe "Restriction"??), and then frontend interfaces rather similar to Special:BlockList (for listing protections of a given type or as applied to a particular page) and Special:Unblock (for removing protections, although this would be nicer as a checkbox list of protections-to-remove, as suggested).
Agreed that the UI may need to be overhauled rather than merely added to in the long term.
I've implemented the proposal without recourse to a Protection/Restriction class, but it's certainly possible.
So in other words, I agree :) But do any of these suggestions block work, or is it better to make the change and then refactor? (That's an honest question: I've never worked on designing proper software before, so I don't know which turns out better in reality.)
[Addendum: Also Brion's suggestion of reforming protection logging, although presumably that would move logging into page_restrictions/protected_titles, which is a fairly major operation by my reckoning.]
