Hello, I asked W.Diffie (cryptographer celebrity!) about the RSA patent a long time ago, and I thought everyone here would be interested in what he had to say on the subject. I was curious about a story I heard about the NSA suppressing some patent at first. I went to a lecture by an ethics professor once in Nebraska and she talked about how some academic researcher had got an application for a patent back rejected, with no explanation, and that after an extremely long battle, the poor scientist discovered the NSA was to blame. The lecturer wasn't specific about the case but used it as an example in talking about the relation of government to science and the research establishment and the possibility of censorship. The scientist had discovered some sensitive cryptographic secret, apparently, and the NSA was spooked by it (hee, hee, very punny!). I asked P.Zimmermann about this and he seemed to think the story was about the RSA patent. I thought this was all documented in the NYT. Does anyone have the article? Anyway, Mr.Diffie says (see below) that nothing sinister happened at the patent office regarding the RSA patent. I would like to hear of any other patents that were suppressed by the NSA hiding behind the patent office. I mean, this professor was definitely not making up a story! She gave me the NYT reference but I think I accidentally threw out the paper I wrote it on. Does anyone have the reference? I think it happened in '78. Also, If W.Diffie is listening (he told me on the phone he subscribes to the list) could you get in touch with me? I haven't been able to get any response to my email. Also, it seems you have more than one email address at Sun, and I'm confused about which to use (my mail to one given to me by J.Gilmore bounced). ===cut=here===