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Re: RC4
> >The RC4 algorithm is copyrighted by and intellectual property of RSA Data
> >Security. For use of this algorithm in a product or service you plan to
> >sell, you may use the RC4 software implementation from our BSAFE toolkit.
> >Licenses are not available for other commercial software implementations of
> >this algorithm other than what is included in our BSAFE toolkit.
>
> I wasn't aware that you could copyright an algorithm. Patent, yes, but not
> copyright. Intellectual property meens secret, right? Aren't there any
> precendence cases involving propriety schemes that are reverse engineered?
> I know there have been, I just can't remember what they are. In any case,
> RSADSI is likely to sue anyone who attempts to use the RC4 code openly, and
> even if they lose there are considerable legal fees involved for whoever
> tries it. What if a bunch of people put secure HTTPd servers online at the
> same time, without any clear trail pointing to the first one? If the RC4
> code really is legal to use, this would make it hard for RSADSI to pinpoint
> anyone to sue, thus eliminating the intimidation factor.
RSA wants money (this comes from speaking with an RSA sales guy - Dave
Garifolio, who incidentially sends out really neat RSA folders full of
info you can take out of the folder and put elsewhere leaving you a cool
folder) for the toolkit, thats all. They send you to some sister corp of
theirs and then charge you for the license. Dave tells me there might be
a chance you could buy one kit from RSA, design the server and anyone who
wanted to use it could pay something like a $300.00 fee to lic. the thing.
However, in the aformentioned folder, Dave sent me all kinds of "we want
big cash" paperwork, which I have yet to read (as anything you've gotta
put in a really cool folder to get me to read can't be worth the time out
from sleeping.)
>
> By the way, since RSA is such a vocal opponent of the Clipper chip on the
> grounds of its secret Skipjack algorithm, why does it market secret
> algorithms like RC4 and RC2? Does this seen like a double face to anyone
> else?
>
Uh, yeah.
Jason Weisberger
[email protected]
http://198.147.97.19/~jweis