Elliptic Curve Rumor
--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 10:53:16 -0700 To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com> From: Somebody Subject: Elliptic Curve Rumor Mime-Version: 1.0 I assume you will pass this information on. Please don't associate my name with it. I have heard that Apple has a working implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography. Because of the export regulations they don't want to include it in their products. If anyone wants to try to change their minds, now would be a good time. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/
heard that Apple has a working implementation of Elliptic Curve Crypto. NeXT had a working implementation of ECC, plus some patents. Depending on where the MacOS/NeXtStEp/BeOS/Copland infighting goes,
the right parts of nExTsTeP may be in place to use it NeXT YeAR.
Because of the export regulations they don't want to include it in their products. If anyone wants to try to change their minds, now would be a good time.
Will Apple do anything that risks delaying getting their act together, such as waiting for the Commerce Department to approve something that's on their critical path? Only if they see a lot of market in it, or somebody pushes the right political buttons very hard, or if it makes the unwritten list of no-explainable-reason features that any software release ends up being delayed by. Or - depending on the implementation - if it's not on the critical path, and they find some way to budget the workers to do the job without slowing down other critical path items. # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # You can get PGP outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto/pgp # (If this is a mailing list or news, please Cc: me on replies. Thanks.)
participants (2)
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Bill Stewart
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Robert Hettinga