Disseminating public-key crypto source code

Jon Orwant orwant at media.mit.edu
Mon Jan 20 11:18:09 PST 1997



I've written a few Perl routines for public-key cryptography.  I'd
like to freely disseminate the source code (starting with ElGamal) to
as many people as I can,

It's my understanding that there are two orthogonal restrictions:

	1) ITAResque: I can't give code to non-U.S. citizens.
	2) PKPesque: Using public-key crypto is an infringement,
		     although disseminating/possessing the source
		     code is not.

While I'm sure these are oversimplifications, it would seem that I can
release my source code over the Internet provided I install a simple
verification mechanism (cf. MIT's PGP distribution) to ensure that
only people claiming to be U.S. citizens have access privileges.

Am I correct?  If so, why aren't more people doing this?

Jon Orwant
MIT Media Lab
orwant at media.mit.edu














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