From: Tatu Ylonen <ylo@cs.hut.fi>
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 09:43:02 +0800
To: ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re: Cryto article in SJ Mercenary
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.91.951031140028.1151G-100000@chivalry>
Message-ID: <199510312340.AAA05687@soikko.cs.hut.fi>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> There's a full page equivalent article on encyption in today's San Jose
> Mercury News (12E-11E). The article concentrates on public key
> cryptography, and mixes some good stuff with some silly mistakes. The
> first page has about 4/5th of the article devoted to a big diagram showing
> how someone using public key encryption to cover a whole message, and sent
> it over the internet to someone in Argentina. All this without a mention
> of using symmetric cyphers, and without even mentioning ITAR. 

I don't think ITAR is very relevant here.  After all, there are dozens
of RSA implementations available from outside the US, and they are not
patent-restricted like in the US.  It is really much easier to use and
get RSA *outside* the US than inside.  (For some pointers, see
"http://www.cs.hut.fi/crypto/".)  Besides, as far as I understand, one
of the RSA inventors wasn't even a US citizen...

    Tatu