Cypherpunks, PGP Buyout, & Writing Code...

[Nerthus at server1.efga.org]

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Jim Choate wrote:
>Perhaps the buy-out of PGP is a good thing. Consider that now there is a
>clear and present motive for Cypherpunks to start writing the next wave of
>world-class crypto...it really is the *only* shure way that the process
>doesn't get subverted...we're no longer able to rely on a single commen
>source of crypto tools.

Perhaps we should hold a Requiem for PGP, or maybe an Irish wake instead.  
Let's take a look back at some of the good things PGP did toward furthering 
the use of crypto.

Phil Zimmerman took public key cryptography and brought it to a fairly wide 
base of users: 4 million people, plus or minus a million or two. :-)  That's 
rather substantial given that less than 100 million people are estimated to 
be on the Net right now.  Think of how many more yet-to-be Net users will 
demand strong cryptography in their communications, be it personal, 
financial, legal, recreational...who knows what else?

PGP also showed how both a freeware and paid-for version of encryption 
software can be marketed together.  The paid-for version of PGP 5.0 allows 
users to generate the new El Gamal/DSS keys as well as the familiar RSA 
keys, while the freeware only allows for the former.  The important lesson 
here, I think, is that the writers of "the next wave of world-class crypto" 
can make money from the paid-for versions with the extra bells and whistles 
that some of us like, but they are not stifling the expansion of their 
software's user base because they are offering a freeware version that 
implements the basic protocols for communicating with users of the paid-for 
version, and of course other freeware users.

Nerthus

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