From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 94 14:24:17 PDT
To: m5@vail.tivoli.com (Mike McNally)
Subject: Re: RC4 - A response from RSA Data Security, Inc.
In-Reply-To: <9409171328.AA08204@vail.tivoli.com>
Message-ID: <9409172123.AA07576@snark.imsi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Mike McNally says:
> 
> Something told me once by a legal person was that it's not illegal to
> warn someone that they're doing something illegal when they're not.
> In other words, RSADSI's vow to maim and mutilate anyone found near a
> machine with "rc4.c" on a disk may or may not carry actual weight.

The phrase "illegal" is wrong here. Potentially, RSADSI has a civil
action that it can bring against some people, but nothing criminal has
been claimed thus far. I know there are certain states with statutes
making trade secret violations a crime, but thats not what is being
alleged thus far.

I will also note that all good attorneys regularly draft letters on
behalf of their clients claiming that you will be stripped of all your
assets and get a bad case of leprosy if you don't do what we want.
Such letters tend to "stretch" the law a bit. Its not clear that
Bidzos does or does not have any course of action to take against
third parties that have or do work with the RC4 code. He might have
potential mechanisms available to him, and he might just be
threatening to spread Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. I'm not
sufficiently familiar with all the details of trade secret law.

Perry