Digital Signature Scandal

- ------- Forwarded message Received: from eff.org by um.cc.umich.edu via MTS-Net; Mon, 28 Jun 93 19:01:51 EDT Received: by eff.org id AA18269 (5.65c/IDA-1.5/ident for interesting-people-exploder); Mon, 28 Jun 1993 19:01:33 -0400 Posted-Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1993 18:59:37 -0500 Message-Id: <9306282259.AA06949@linc.cis.upenn.edu> X-Sender: farber@linc.cis.upenn.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 28 Jun 1993 18:59:37 -0500 From: farber@central.cis.upenn.edu (David Farber) Subject: Digital Signature Scandal To: interesting-people@eff.org (interesting-people mailing list) [The following is an official announcement from the League for Programming Freedom. Please redistribute this as widely as possible.] Digital Signature Scandal Digital signature is a technique whereby one person (call her J. R. Gensym) can produce a specially encrypted number which anyone can verify could only have been produced by her. (Typically a particular signature number encodes additional information such as a date and time or a legal document being signed.) Anyone can decrypt the number because that can be done with information that is published; but producing such a number uses a "key" (a password) that J. R. Gensym does not tell to anyone else. Several years ago, Congress directed the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly the National Bureau of Standards) to choose a single digital signature algorithm as a standard for the US. In 1992, two algorithms were under consideration. One had been developed by NIST with advice from the NSA (National Security Agency), which engages in electronic spying and decoding. There was widespread suspicion that this algorithm had been designed to facilitate some sort of trickery. The fact that NIST had applied for a patent on this algorithm engendered additional suspicion; despite their assurances that this would not be used to interfere with use of the technique, people could imagine no harmless motive for patenting it. The other algorithm was proposed by a company called PKP, Inc., which not coincidentally has patents covering its use. This alternative had a disadvantage that was not just speculation: if this algorithm were adopted as the standard, everyone using the standard would have to pay PKP. (The same patents cover the broader field of public key cryptography, a technique whose use in the US has been mostly inhibited for a decade by PKP's assiduous enforcement of these patents. The patents were licensed exclusively to PKP by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and derive from taxpayer-funded research.) PKP, Inc. made much of the suspect nature of the NIST algorithm and portrayed itself as warning the public about this. On June 8, NIST published a new plan which combines the worst of both worlds: to adopt the suspect NIST algorithm, and give PKP, Inc. an *exclusive* license to the patent for it. This plan places digital signature use under the control of PKP through the year 2010. By agreeing to this arrangement, PKP, Inc. shows that its concern to protect the public from possible trickery was a sham. Its real desire was, as one might have guessed, to own an official national standard. Meanwhile, NIST has justified past suspicion about its patent application by proposing to give that patent (in effect) to a private entity. Instead of making a gift to PKP, Inc., of the work all of us have paid for, NIST and Congress ought to protect our access to it--by pursuing all possible means, judicial and legislative, to invalidate or annull the PKP patents. If that fails, even taking them by eminent domain is better (and cheaper in the long run!) than the current plan. You can write to NIST to object to this giveaway. Write to: Michael R. Rubin Active Chief Counsel for Technology Room A-1111, Administration Building, National Institute of Standards and Technology Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899 (301) 975-2803. The deadline for arrival of letters is around August 4. Please send a copy of your letter to: League for Programming Freedom 1 Kendall Square #143 P.O.Box 9171 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (The League for Programming Freedom is an organization which defends the freedom to write software, and opposes monopolies such as patented algorithms and copyrighted languages. It advocates returning to the former legal system under which if you write the program, you are free to use it. Please write to the League if you want more information.) Sending copies to the League will enable us to show them to elected officials if that is useful. This text was transcribed from a fax and may have transcription errors. We believe the text to be correct but some of the numbers may be incorrect or incomplete. - --------------------------------------------------------------------- ** The following notice was published in the Federal Register, Vol. 58, No. 108, dated June 8, 1993 under Notices ** National Institute of Standards and Technology Notice of Proposal for Grant of Exclusive Patent License This is to notify the public that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to grant an exclusive world-wide license to Public Key Partners of Sunnyvale, California to practice the Invention embodied in U.S. Patent Application No. 07/738.431 and entitled "Digital Signature Algorithm." A PCT application has been filed. The rights in the invention have been assigned to the United States of America. The prospective license is a cross-license which would resolve a patent dispute with Public Key Partners and includes the right to sublicense. Notice of availability of this invention for licensing was waived because it was determined that expeditious granting of such license will best serve the interest of the Federal Government and the public. Public Key Partners has provided NIST with the materials contained in Appendix A as part of their proposal to NIST. Inquiries, comments, and other materials relating to the prospec- tive license shall be submitted to Michael R. Rubin, Active Chief Counsel for Technology, Room A-1111, Administration Building, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899. His telephone number is (301) 975-2803. Applica- tions for a license filed in response to this notice will be treated as objections to the grant of the prospective license. Only written comments and/or applications for a license which are received by NIST within sixty (60) days for the publication of this notice will be considered. The prospective license will be granted unless, within sixty (60) days of this notice, NIST receives written evidence and argument which established that the grant of the license would not be consistent with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. Dated: June 2, 1993. Raymond G. Kammer Acting Director, National Institute Standards and Technology. Appendix "A" The National Institute for Standards and Technology ("NIST") has announced its intention to grant Public Key Partners ("PKP") sublicensing rights to NIST's pending patent application on the Digital Signature Algorithm ("DSA"). Subject to NIST's grant of this license, PKP is pleased to declare its support for the proposed Federal Information Processing Standard for Digital Signatures (the "DSS") and the pending availability of licenses to practice the DSA. In addition to the DSA, licenses to practice digital signatures will be offered by PKP under the following patents: Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Diffie-Hellman") No. 4,200,770 Public Key Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Hellman-Merkle") No. 4,315,552 Exponential Cryptographic Apparatus and Method ("Hellman-Pohlig") No. 4,434,414 Method For Identifying Subscribers And For Generating And Verifying Electronic Signatures In A Data Exchange System ("Schnorr") No. 4,995,082 It is PKP's intent to make practice of the DSA royalty free for personal, noncommercial and U.S. Federal, state and local government use. As explained below, only those parties who enjoy commercial benefit from making or selling products, or certifying digital signatures, will be required to pay royalties to practice the DSA. PKP will also grant a license to practice key management, at no additional fee, for the integrated circuits which will implement both the DSA and the anticipated Federal Information Processing Standard for the "key escrow" system announced by President Clinton on April 16, 1993. Having stated these intentions, PKP now takes this opportunity to publish its guidelines for granting uniform licenses to all parties having a commercial interest in practicing this technology: First, no party will be denied a license for any reason other that the following: (i) Failure to meet its payment obligations, (ii) Outstanding claims of infringement, or (iii) Previous termination due to material breach. Second, licenses will be granted for any embodiment sold by the licensee or made for its use, whether for final products software, or components such as integrated circuits and boards, and regard- less of the licensee's channel of distribution. Provided the requisite royalties have been paid by the seller on the enabling component(s), no further royalties will be owned by the buyer for making or selling the final product which incorporates such components. Third, the practice of digital signatures in accordance with the DSS may be licensed separately from any other technical art covered by PKP's patents. Fourth, PKP's royalty rates for the right to make or sell products, subject to uniform minimum fees, will be no more than 2 1/2% for hardware products and 5% for software, with the royalty rate further declining to 1% on any portion of the product price exceeding $1,000. These royalty rates apply only to noninfringing parties and will be uniform without regard to whether the licensed product creates digital signatures, verifies digital signatures or performs both. Fifth, for the next three (3) years, all commercial services which certify a signature's authenticity for a fee may be operated royalty free. Thereafter, all providers of such commercial certification services shall pay a royalty to PKP of $1.00 per certificate for each year the certificate is valid. Sixth, provided the foregoing royalties are paid on such products or services, all other practice of the DSA shall be royalty free. Seventh, PKP invites all of its existing licensees, at their option, to exchange their current licenses for the standard license offered for DSA. Finally, PKP will mediate the concerns of any party regarding the availability of PKP's licenses for the DSA with designated representatives of NIST and PKP. For copies of PKP's license terms, contact Michael R. Rubin, Acting Chief Counsel for Technolo- gy, NIST, or Public Key Partners. Dated: June 2, 1993. Robert B. Fougner, Esq., Director of Licensing, Public Key Partners, 310 North Mary Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94033 [FR Doc. 93-13473 Filed 8-7-93; 8:45 am] - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Forwarded by: - -- Jim Gillogly Trewesday, 21 Forelithe S.R. 1993, 20:56 ------- End of Forwarded Message