Is it legal for commercial companies to use PGP?

Jim Grubs, W8GRT jgrubs at voxbox.norden1.com
Mon Jul 17 17:34:51 PDT 1995


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tim werner <werner at mc.ab.com> writes:

> Hi,
> 
> I was reading in some Where to Get PGP Web page that "PGP2.6.2 is legal
> to use in the U.S. for non-commercial purposes (i.e., you cannot sell it
> or the functionality it provides)".  Can anyone on the list say whether
> this is true?  That is, was the use of "i.e." correct, or should it have
> been "e.g."?
> 
> Or, to put it more succinctly, I was talking to one of the sys admins at
> A-B, and he said that we weren't allowed to use PGP to encrypt our mail,
> because Viacrypt owned the commercial rights.  But, according to the bit
> I quoted, it would only be a violation if A-B tried to put PGP into one
> of their products.
> 
> Has anyone heard a (hopefully legal, but I'll listen to anyone's
> opinion) answer to this?

As I recall, the following is a correct scenario: a customer can use PGP to
send credit card numbers to a vendor he's making a personal purchase from,
but the vendor must use Viacrypt. If the customer is buying something to use
for business, BOTH  must use Viacrypt.





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