From: fnerd@smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 93 21:03:21 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: SunExpress to expand "unlockable" software distribution
Message-ID: <9302090339.AB10263@smds.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


gnu@toad.com (John Gilmore) says:

>It would probably be a public service if some interested parties were
>to determine the ``encryption'' method that Sun Express, the standard
>Sun ``license manager'', and other packages use.  At the moment, the
>details of these technologies are not described in the public
>literature (as far as I know).
>
>Rather than have these companies discover years too late that their
>"unlockable" software is really unlockable by anyone who understands
>cryptography, it'd be better for them to learn it this year, while
>they are still handling low volumes of programs that way.  Also maybe
>they will stop dumping these programs-that-you-have-but-must-pay-to-run on us.
>
>	John 

I was in a meeting where the license manager technology was explained from
a semi-technical, semi-business point of view.

 o  There's a standard that many companies are using.  It's for the rpc
    interface between licensed programs and license managers.  The
    program calls the manager, tells it a couple things, and asks,
    is it okay for me to run?

 o  License managers vary in the kinds of licenses they can support.
    There's enough variety of license possibilities to make your
    head swim.

 o  License managers generally work from "licenses," which are text files
    on your computer that describe the terms of particular licenses in a 
    license-manager-specific language.

 o  I think they use RSA, MD5, etc., for instance in signing logs that they
    keep.

 o  License-managers are themselves expensive and licensed, with a variety
    of up-front/per platform/per site/per end user/per developer license 
    combinations as well as the feature variety I mentioned.

I could probably find out what public documents exist if nobody else on the
list knows.

-fnerd
quote me
fnerd@smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)