Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 12:48:48 -0500 To: jya@jya.com From: Ed Stone <estone@synernet.com> Subject: PGP/NAI merger and key recovery I received the following email from Phil Zimmermann, regarding concerns I have expressed about NAI's acquisition of TIS, a substantial contractor to the National Security Agency, and a major developer of key recovery capabilities.
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Date: Wed, 18 Mar 1998 01:20:34 -0800 To: estone@synernet.com From: Philip Zimmermann <prz@pgp.com> Subject: PGP/NAI merger and key recovery Cc: prz@pgp.com Ed, I saw your recent remarks in comp.security.pgp.discuss. I'd like to make a few points. You may quote me on this. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Mergers are complex operations, especially mergers of publicly traded companies of this size. NAI and TIS will not fully close the merger deal for about 60 days. Until then, there are many policy details we cannot discuss in public. NAI has no plans to incorporate TIS's key recovery technology in any version of PGP, including our business versions. I have discussed this point with NAI management. I have not changed my political values regarding privacy and crypto. I would not have allowed the sale of my company to NAI if they were going to buy PGP in order to bury PGP, as some have feared. They bought PGP because they value the reputation that PGP has earned in the industry. They want to preserve that reputation by preserving PGP's product integrity. I plan to keep watch over PGP's product integrity for the foreseeable future. NAI plans to keep publishing our source code for peer review. Source code publication in printed books is a vital part of NAI's business strategy, especially its overseas strategy. There will be an important announcement on this subject on 20 March at CeBit in Hannover Germany. -Philip Zimmermann -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 5.5.5 iQA/AwUBNQ+RzWPLaR3669X8EQLuRwCcDowyBBr32YtbsnYSHy6clTW+7CwAnjpk KnVN0NVreBNuIOyxsAcWIb40 =vY/q -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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Ed Stone estone@synernet.com -------------------