Re: FAQ: Where to get PGP latest version

[wcs@anchor.ho.att.com (bill.stewart@pleasantonca.ncr.com +1-510-484-6204)]

Mike Johnson's list of where to get PGP has teh following:
> Platforms  | Released | Version  | Notes & restrictions
>            | by       |          | Other restrictions may apply.
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dos & Unix | MIT      | 2.5      | Uses RSAREF 2.0. Not for use in any
>            |          | BETA     | application that you get paid for.
>            |		|          | Patents licensed for personal use only.
>            |		|          | Not for export from the USA or Canada.
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The export situation is far better than that, actually.
There used to be *two* reasons you couldn't export RSAREF.
One was that the U.S. Government threatens people who do export crypto,
though they have to catch you to enforce it.
The other was that the RSAREF license documents said you couldn't
export it or use it outside the US/Canada, which means you'd be violating
their copyright if you used it in, say, Europe, where US copyrights
are enforceable.

The current RSAREF license, however, does not forbid export or use
outside the US/Canada - it only says that it ay be subject to
export laws and recommends consulting a lawyer if you want to export it.
This means that, if a copy were to find its way out of the US,
it would be perfectly legal to use it within the other terms of the
license, which would make it possible to do things like, say,
compile it along with a PGP-2.5-bones library.
(The alternative approach would be to get someone to rewrite it
from scratch outside the US, and make sure it was a good clone.)

While I don't have enough lawyers, guns, and money to go exporting it
myself, I must say I'd be *shocked* to find it appearing on,
say, ftp.funet.fi in the near future :-)

				Bill Stewart