Re: lynx-dev Lynx and SSL-encrypting

[David Woolley]

> The patent isn't the problem, is it?  Isn't it export restrictions upon any
> encryption above a certain level of complexity?

It is both.  Lynx is distributed under the Gnu General Public Licence.
There is an explicit clause in that licence that says that any 
patent which requires royalties to be paid by any class of potential
user is incompatible with the GPL and such a patent voids the
right to redistribute under that licence for all classes of user.

As royalties must be paid by commercial users (e.g. an ISP who
installs Lynx for their customers) there would be no right to copy
SSL Lynx in the USA (the rest of the world case is more fuzzy becuse
of another clause in the licence (the USA is possibly the only
country that permits patents on pure software).

The interpreation being put on this is that it is still legal to 
construct an SSL Lynx for personal use, but you may not pass it on
to others.