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Re: NON-US means?



On Thu, 11 Feb 1999, J.H.M. Dassen wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 11, 1999 at 21:01:48 +1100, Garrick Chien Welsh wrote:
> > I've never heard anything to suggest it was illegal for anyone in America
> > to use an international version of that software.
> 
> Quoting from the description of the "rsaref" package:
> : RSAREF is a cryptographic toolkit developed by RSA Data Security Inc. It
> : implements the core of an RSA public key cryptography system. RSADSI holds
> : the patent to the RSA algorithm, and thus this library is the only
> : implementation that is legal to use in the US.
> 
> International versions of programs using RSA encryption generally do not use
> RSAREF. This is a patent issue, not an import/export law issue though.
> 
While personally I have no idea if that is correct or not. This is where I
recieved my percieved idea of what the export laws of the US caused this
all.
"
:   The heart of the issue is the US Export Regulations, which classifies
:   cryptographic software as munitions. Thus you need a license in order
:   to export PGP from the USA. However, the Export Regulations only
:   covers software in electronic form (e.g. on disks, or via the
:   Internet). PGP 5.0i, on the other hand, was compiled from source code
:   that was printed in a book (well, actually 12 books - over 6000
:   pages!). The books were exported from the USA in accordance with the
:   US Export Regulations, and the pages were then scanned and OCRed to
:   make the source available in electronic form.
"
Please take a look at the URL if you'd like http://www.pgpi.com/project/
Personally I don't know, but at least you understand how my opnion was
created.

-------------
Garrick Welsh
mailto: gwelsh@nlc.net.au
 
   I filled out an application that said "In Case Of Emergency Notify:"
   I wrote "Doctor"...  What's my mother going to do?




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