Sun vs. FUD: Elvis is waiting; Sun puts high-strength encryption software aside

[David Honig]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/technology/wired/story.html?s=n/reuters
/980310/wired/stories/sun_4.html



Tuesday March 10 9:58 AM EST 

  Sun puts high-strength encryption software aside

  SAN FRANCISCO (Wired) - Sun Microsystems, which had hoped to market
high-strength encryption software developed by a Russian firm, has put the
plans
  on hold due to ongoing scrutiny by the US Commerce Department, the Wall
Street Journal reported Monday. 

  The software, partially based on a Sun security protocol, was developed
by a Moscow company called Elvis+, a firm started by former Soviet space
scientists in
  which Sun now owns a 10 percent stake. 

  The deal attracted widespread attention because it appeared to give Sun a
way around the Clinton administration's regulation of strong-crypto exports. 

  Sun contended the Elvis+ products fall outside the purview of US
government policy. The administration has been reviewing the deal for nine
months now. 

  Sun executives, who had hoped to put the encryption software on the
market last August, have shelved the plans for the moment, but they remain
hopeful, the
  Journal reported. 

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      David Honig                   Orbit Technology
     honig at otc.net                  Intaanetto Jigyoubu

"I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and
    violence, I would advise violence." Mahatma Gandhi