Re: [VANILLA-LIST:2126] PGP RSA

[Kurt Siegl <007@freemail.at>]

On Tue, 16 Mar 1999 you wrote:
>If it isn't, then we could be breaking the law by making RSA-enabled
>clients available to people outside the U.S.  Afterall, the clients
>use the same RSA algorithm in obfuscated form.
>
>I contacted RSA Labs for some clarification.  Seeing as ftp.netrek.org
>has numerous RSA enabled client binaries with no export control, I'd
>rather be on the safe side than be slapped by Uncle Sam.  My interpretation
>of the export restrictions (particularly the changes made last September)
>is that we can export RSA enabled client _and_ server binaries because
>the key size we use is 32 bits and the algorithm is used only for
>authentication purposes.

32 bit key size? That could be cracked to easy.
No Netrek uses 32 byte = 256 bit keysize which is far above the 40 bit.

>BTW, Kurt, you realize that by bundling mkkey.c with the COW source, you're
>making it un-re-exportable outside the U.S., right?

1) I f*cking care about US laws, they are not vaild to me. 
In Europe everything is perfectly leagl. But I believe
that  my (and also the rest of the comunitys) activity is monitored by the
US security agencies, but as long its only a game they probably will
not set any actions against us.

2) Alec usually removed the RSA stuff from the distribution, when putting
it onto the FTP server, but since you are basically mirroring my European
site, it does not fall under the US export laws. There are some other laws
in particular copyright laws aplicable to this case.

>Aren't crypto laws a pain?  :(

They suck really badly, but in case something spectacular happens,
I have some good connections to members of the European parlament,
who can help me out then. There are a lot of people who just wait for
an initial.

Kurt (007)

--
Kurt Siegl / Franzberg 4, A-4483 Hargelsberg, Austria
Email: 007@netrek.org       Tel (ISDN):   *(7225)7017
URL:   http://www.ooenet.at/user/siegl/kurt/