Re: pgp in Debian: obsolete?

[Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com>]

Quoting Florian Weimer (fw@deneb.enyo.de):
> * Henrique de Moraes Holschuh:
> 
> >> Why non-free?  The code is available under a DFSG-free copyright
> >> license.
> >
> > The one I have here isn't, but if you have one that is entirely DFSG-free,
> > that's much better.
> 
> An older version is available from:
> 
>   <http://linuxmafia.com/pub/linux/security/gnupg/idea.c>

(Hey, that's my living room.  ;->  )

Although idea.c copyright holder Werner Koch licenses his copyright
under BSD terms, the header details Ascom AG's patent licence terms
(free of charge for non-commercial use).  As others have said, it's
solely the patent that's the problem -- but that patent makes the 
code non-free in all countries where the patent still has force:
I'm pretty sure that's just about everywhere.

Patent expires in 2011, by the way.  (Possibly a bit later in some
places.  There were filings in at least the USA, European Patent Office,
and Japan, to my knowledge.)