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Re: PGP 5.0 {NOT really Linux related }
PGP was originally written as free software (source code and all).
However, certain copyright problem with RSA have made it illegal for it
to stay in that position.
In addition, the US federal government holds powerful cryptographic
tools as weapons which cannot be exported outside of the US and Canada.
Beside PGP these programs include SSH, Netscape 128 bit, US versions of
NT server (fooy! ;-) and more. It is because of these reasons that the
FBI pressed serious charge against Zimmerman, who wrote PGP, since he
made it publicly available through FTP to the entire world. Those
charges were dropped after a long legal fight.
The good news are that thanks to a short sighting by Prof. Shamir et al,
RSA is not copyrighted in many countries in the world. In addition,
while it is not legal to EXPORT products like PGP from the US, it is
still perfectly legal to use them once they were exported. Because of
these reasons, an "International" version of PGP is still available,
free of charge + source code and all for public use (except in the US
and Canada because of aforementioned copyright problems).
PGP ltd. still develops PGP (owned by Zimmerman - the original
programmer) and sells related products, like PGP Phone.
AFAIK, the current law in Israel holds PGP, and other similar
cryptographic software as some sort of weapons as well, and requires the
users of such software to comply with certain limitations (please
approach your local General Security Service agent for details on this
matter). Despite this I have not heard of anyone getting busted for
using PGP, but then again with current state of things this too might
happen some day soon...
Gilad (stepping off the soap box ...)
Eddie Harari wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >Well, I don't know about v 5.0, but some previous versions (2.3.? I think)
> >have European version that are free, with source and all. Check the Yahoo
> >branch of PGP for links.
> >
> >later versions may be commercial and because of a stupid US law -
> >legally available only for Americans.
> >
> > Shlomi Fish
> >
> >
> >
> Well Well ...
>
> My bose just came back from usenix now and he sais that security
> is the most HOT stuff on the peoples mind now ...
>
> he says that it is because cryptography is considered as wepon in
> the states ...
> so it is like smuggeling wepon ...
> is this true ???
>
> --
> Eddie Harari - phone: 972-3-6190999
> fax : 972-3-6190992
> ___________________
> Take A Walk In The Wild Side ...
--
Gilad Ben-Yossef <gilad@benyossef.com> URL: http://benyossef.com
Ben-Yossef 18, Tel-Aviv Phone: 972-53524810
* Please include the word "urgent" in emails to alert me to important
emails *
"New machines, network links, and resources should be automatically
assimilated. "
Operating System Directions for the Next Millennium, Microsoft Research
whitepaper
http://www.research.microsoft.com/research/os/Millennium/mgoals.html