Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!laidbak!usenet
From: rmiller@laidy.i88.isc.com (Richard J. Miller)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: UNIX-like crypt function
Keywords: crypt unix ibm-pc
Message-ID: <1989Aug23.235721.23833@i88.isc.com>
Date: 23 Aug 89 23:57:21 GMT
References: <855@eutrc3.urc.tue.nl> <2152@netcom.UUCP> <17369@ut-emx.UUCP>
Reply-To: rmiller@i88.isc.com (Richard J. Miller)
Organization: Interactive Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Lines: 24

In article <17369@ut-emx.UUCP> nghiem@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Alex Nghiem) writes:
>[request for crypt function]
i add
    [from Eindhoven]
>
>Didn't I read somewhere that Unix encryption was restricted to
>U.S.A. and not for export? What happens if the function gets
>in the "wrong" hands through the network?
>
>nghiem@walt.cc.utexas.edu

the real restriction was (and still is, i believe) on the DES algorithm,
which is, at least in some form, at the heart of the UNIX crypt function.

the restriction is not so much to keep the function out of the "wrong"
hands, especially seeing as it does not decrypt, but rather to keep the
algorithm out of lots of peoples hands so they can't figure out how to
decrypt the results.

and the restriction is a real pain in the !@#$%@^&# to people who have
to package systems for an international environment ...

Rich Miller
{sun, amdahl, att (maybe)}!laidbak!rmiller