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From: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu (David Palmer)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
Subject: Re: public key encryption and RSA patent status
Message-ID: <4081@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: Sun, 27-Sep-87 23:30:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: cit-vax.4081
Posted: Sun Sep 27 23:30:42 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 28-Sep-87 04:58:30 EDT
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Reply-To: palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (David Palmer)
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In article <1398@osiris.UUCP> mjr@osiris.UUCP (Marcus J. Ranum) writes:
>	You know what occurs to me as a really ha-ha thought !?!  Remember how
>much sh** people had to go through befroe exporting anything with (breakable)
>DES in it ? Well, the same country goes and lets people PUBLISH RSA...
>
>	Isn't that a scream ? I suppose DES is still restricted, too. It's
>a good thing that the spooks don't live in the REAL world - they'd really get
>in our way....

The boys with guns (of/for/by the people) did try to supress RSA, I believe
that after the Scientific American article about it came out, giving
people all over the world everything they needed to implement the algorithm,
the State dept. tried to prevent reprints of RSA's article from getting
out of the country.  It took the better part of a year before I got my
copy in Canada.

DES is not classified, only the open secret (or widespread belief) that
the NSA has a backdoor to it is classified.  Implementations of DES
are subject to export controls, however, meaning that if you want to
market an implementation internationally, do it from a foreign country.
(The balance of trade, of course, does not affect national security,
so this is the only patriotic thing to do.)

		David Palmer
		palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu
		...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer
	The opinions expressed are those of an 8000 year old Atlantuan
	priestess named Mrla, and not necessarily those of her channel.