PGPsdk is now free for non-commercial use

stewarts at ix.netcom.com stewarts at ix.netcom.com
Tue Nov 18 14:26:34 PST 1997



At 06:44 AM 11/18/1997 -0500, Anonymous wrote:
>Bill Stewart writes:
[...]
>>         For example, a commercial purpose includes the use of the 
>>         application within a commercial business or facility or 
>>         the use of the product to provide a service, or in support 
>>         of service, for which you charge. 
>>         Commercial purpose also includes use by any government agency
>>         or organization. 
>> First of all, it sounds like it can only be used by students at
>> non-government-run universities, but not at Berkeley, and if
>> Random MIT Student develops PGPwidget using the toolkit,
>> students at U.C.Berkeley can't use it for academic use either,
>> except perhaps on their PCs at home (if they live off-campus.)
>> (Do any of the UK universities count as non-government-run?)
>
>You consider use by students at U.C.Berkeley to be use by a "government
>agency or organization".  I don't think that is what is meant.  They mean
>something like the NSA, or Congress, or the military.

That may not be what they _intended_, but it's what they said..  
They're very explicit that using "within a commercial business or facility"  
is commercial, and they're including government agencies and organizations.
That means if you're using it in a government-owned building,
it's commercial from their license's standpoint.

>> But "within a commercial business or facility" is far more 
>> restrictive.  
>
>"Within" is probably meant in the organizational sense, not in terms of
>physical inclusion.  The fundamental point is whether revenue generation

If they hadn't explicitly said "facility", that might be a reasonable
interpretation, but they've provided carefully crafted language 
that's pinning down a very broad definition of commercial.

>You can't use it to do your work.  Your company should buy a copy in
>that case.  Reading your work email counts as part of doing your work.

If they want to go that direction, well, it's their code (mostly.)
But it's a much different direction from the previous policies.
				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, stewarts at ix.netcom.com
Regular Key PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639







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