Re: lynx-dev RSA is now in the Public Domain

[Kim DeVaughn]

On Thu, Sep 07, 2000, Thomas Dickey (address@hidden) said:
|
| On Thu, Sep 07, 2000 at 10:49:55AM -0700, Matt Ackeret wrote:
| >
| > What are the implications of this being public domain (regardless of
| > the two weeks early) for an SSL-enabled Lynx?
|
| As I understand it, it doesn't change the fundamental issue which is that
| the rules for making exportable encryption are not well-defined (in terms
| that we can use, at any rate).

That's why I want to research what the *new* ITAR regs say.

During the public comment period last Nov/Dec, I had some correspondance
with the DoC (Dept. of Commerce) folks who were revising the regs.  They
assured me that their *intent* was to clarify the regs WRT "freely dist-
ributable s/w", and that there shouldn't be a problem for programs like
lynx, mutt, etc, to be distributed in a form that would allow them to
utilize crypto programs such as PGP, RSA, etc.

I do believe that the stipulation was that the source code had to be
made available to someone in the DoC, or some such (which obviously is
not a problem for lynx).

Now, whether those *intentions* were actually realized in the new regs or
not, I can't say at this point, as I didn't follow things up at the time
(since there was then still a [potential] problem with the RSA patent).

The latter being no longer an issue, 'tis time to check on the former,
which I'll do now.

Will let you know what I find out, when I have something definitive ...

/kim

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