PGP 2.5 available from Electronic Frontier Foundation ftp site

[Stanton McCandlish <mech@eff.org>]

With the early May announcement of the availability of the new version of 
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) a free encryption program for email and other
files, EFF has decided to provide PGP and other cryptographic material to
users of the Internet.  EFF applauds and congratulates the PGP development
team, MIT (who initially made PGP 2.5 available), and RSA Data Security
(patent holders of the RSA and RSAREF encryption code) for coming to an
agreement and providing this new version of the most popular email encryption
program in the world - a free version that is finally legal in the US.

Previous versions of PGP arguably violated US patent law, with the
exception of ViaCrypt's commercial PGP 2.4, but the new 2.5 is built upon
the free RSAREF encryption functions, rather than the previous RSA functions
which required a special licensing arrangement for use in applications
like PGP.  

Despite the patent & licensing issues being resolved, PGP is still not legally
exportable from the United States (except to Canada), due to ITAR export
restrictions which categorize cryptographic materials as weapons of war.  
Thus, EFF can only make PGP and other crypto tools and source code available
to US and Canadian nationals currently residing in the US or Canada and
connecting to EFF's site from a US or Canadian site.

PGP and similar material is available from EFF's ftp site in a hidden
directory, and only to Americans and Canadians.  Access to this directory
can be obtained by reading and following the instructions in the README.Dist
file at:

ftp.eff.org, /pub/Net_info/Tools/Crypto/
gopher.eff.org, 1/Net_info/Tools/Crypto
gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Net_info/Tools/Crypto
http://www.eff.org/pub/Net_info/Tools/Crypto/

PGP can only be obtained from EFF via ftp currently.  Gopher and WWW
access to the material itself is not supported at this time.

Only the DOS and Unix versions of PGP 2.5 have been released so far.
The Unix version is in source code form, and so can be readily ported to
VMS, NeXT and many other operating systems.  A Macintosh version has yet to
be released. 



If you would like to see US export restrictions on cryptography removed,
please send a message supporting Rep. Cantwell's export reform act (bill
HR3627) to cantwell@eff.org, ask your Representatives to co-sponsor this
bill, and ask your Senators to co-sponsor Sen. Murray's companion bill
(S1846) in the US Senate.  Congress contact information is available from
ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/govt_contact.list


-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994


-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994


-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994


-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994


-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994


-- 
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist
"In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted last week by Yankelovich
Partners, two-thirds said it was more important to protect the privacy of
phone calls than to preserve the ability of police to conduct wiretaps.
When informed about the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it."
- Philip Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994