Andy Thomas <aethomas@uci.edu> wrote:
Funny thing; last year the computer administrators wouldn't even allow a copy of PGP to reside on their systems -- now it is part of their public account (student-run officially University unsupported software, usable by all).
About six months ago I was going to to compile and install pgp in the campus software library which is made available to hundreds of systems distributed accross the campus. I decided against it at the time becuase I was unsure if anyone (namely the University) would be liable for providing the pgp executable to the public without having a liscence for the RSA algorithm. I had pretty much abandoned the idea until I saw this post. If i'm correct, it's the resposibility of the user to obtain a liscence which is why pgp is freely available at ftp sites without putting the owner of the site at risk. In this case would the University be resposible for aquiring a liscence? This also brings up another question: is there anyone out there using freeware pgp who has obtained a RSA licsence so they can use it legally? Also I'm curious if there are there any sysadmins out there that have made pgp available to their users?
Well, I went through a similiar situation with CMU, they told someone (not me) that they wouldn't allow PGP to be in the campus software library, so I put it in my personal directory and told everyone where to get it, and they didn't complain. It's in /afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr12/mg5n/pgp/pgp23A.tar.Z