ietf-smime
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Re: Alternative symmetric algorithm freely available for IETF S/MIME (re: RC2 licensing).

1997-04-17 14:25:43
At 05:14 PM 4/17/97 -0400, bpc(_at_)blackpaw(_dot_)com wrote:
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH EXPORT!!! Rather what you can use to 
'talk' to the government

OK, sorry I misunderstood you there.

But then - is what you can use to 'talk' to the US government (mainly a US
domestic issue) of concern for the standard ?

In part no.  But in so many other IETF standards, DES is a must implement.
This is the case with IPsec.  It is chosen as a MUST implement, because it
is available worldwide without licensing encumberences, I think.

I also would suspect to see DES in other govs requirements, as many model
theirs after FIPS.

To  make RCn a requirement and DES an option is a major shift in IETF work.
 RC2 and RC4 are trade secrets.  RC5 is published, but licensed, I think.

This is much of my concern...


Robert Moskowitz
Chrysler Corporation
(810) 758-8212