in the cypherpunks ftp site /pub/cypherpunks/ciphers are 2 ascii files. One contains code and the other contains documentation: eliptic.src and elliptic.doc. The code portion is a cat'ed block of files: headers, C sources and a set of prime numbers. The documentation attempts to explain the math, but it does help if you already know number theory. It hopefully isn't necessary. The code is a specific implementation of one particular type of math. It violates no known patents. It appears to work. The academics claim that elliptic curves over Galois Fields are really secure. Preliminary testing bears this out, changing one bit of input gives uniformly distributed "random" output. Previous to the availabilty of 100 MHz processors this method of public key crypto was ridculously slow. The only versions were laboratory curiosities implemented in ASIC hardware. Code, if it exists, is not in the public domain. The code is based on several papers (some 15 references are listed in the doc file, 6 are more directly important) and a couple of books. It includes optimal normal basis math, elliptic curve math, and public key secret sharing. With 128 bit symmetric encryption, a 226 bit field is more than sufficient to hide it. I believe it is really strong crypto. I did not invent anything. I just implemented a few textbook examples that nobody else has. Since it's from public domain sources, and it's now public domain software, it can be freely used. You get what you pay for. Code is a living thing. It takes lots of people lots of time to make any code useful. The purpose of this code is to show that there is more than one way to create public key cryptosystems and to bring academic discussion into the everyday realm of real world problems. I suggest you get a copy to work with before it becomes illegal ;-) Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike