In <34610813(_dot_)7EB29377(_at_)systemics(_dot_)com>
IANG(_at_)SYSTEMICS(_dot_)COM writes:
[snip]
So the existence of patented technology (such as RSA or IDEA) would
seem to be not necessarily a problem, as long as the patent is licensed
under appropriately "open" terms.
[snip]
Whether RSA meets this standard is open
to question - certainly they have been accused by their detractors of
non-openness in their licensing process.
[snip]
I would think that having the RSA algorithm listed in the standard,
along with an IESG comment that said that this algorithm may not be
available under open, non-discriminatory and reasonable guidelines to
all parties would be quite a useful bargaining point.
We could go even further. You could say that the RSA algorithm is to be
used, except where algorithm is not available under open,
non-discriminatory and reasonable guidelines. If we need a definition
of this, I would suggest
[snip]
All of which seems obvious of course, based on the snippet above. Are
there any counter-views?
As someone that develops for a platform not officially "blessed" by RSA, I
would strongly object to RSA technology being referenced in an encryption
standard. We have approached RSA multiple times, and cannot even *get* a
license for their technology (even if we volunteer to port it ourselves)
at any cost. We dropped out of monitoring the S/MIME standards a while back
when it looked like it was going to require RSA technology-- so we took up
monitoring OpenPGP as an alternative. We develop an e-mail system for HP3000
computers and fully intend to implement and support OpenPGP on this platform.
Recommendation (or requirement) of a technology not available to *all*
implementors should not be allowed in an IETF standard.
Note; pgp and the rsalib code *do* work fine on our platform [hp 3000
computers running the MPE/iX OS] but we still cannot get a license for the
technology to "legally" use it. Not very *open*.
-Chris Bartram
3k Associates, Inc.
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