From: bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Vesselin Bontchev)
Subject: Re: RIPEM and RSAREF available by anonymous ftp !!!
Reply-To: bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de
Organization: Virus Test Center, University of Hamburg
Date:  7 Jan 93 14:03:15 GMT

strnlght@netcom.com (David Sternlight) writes:

> Mark Henderson, writing from Canada, advises a Bulgarian National
> writing from Germany on how to get the RSAREF and RIPEM files
> without reading or agreeing to the license agreement.

The Bulgarian National writing from Germany didn't need at all the
advice of a Canadian citizen how to get the files without a license
agreement. Much before Mark Henderson posted anything, I received a
private e-mail message from the UK, telling me that RSAREF & RIPEM are
made available by anonymous ftp by RSA. It also told me the full paths
of the files and didn't tell me that they are export restricted, so I
naturally decided that they are not any more. I logged to rsa.com,
changed to the appropriate directory and downloaded them. At no point
I encountered any obstacle or even a warning that I should not do so.

> I think this is both a disgrace and a violation of ITAR. I would
> not be surprised if it is also a violation of Canadian Law.

The American citizen writing from the USA is already well-known to the
net.world for his lack of competence on legal matters and paranoid
theories.

> RSA has been trying to make RIPEM/RSAREF freely available to
> U.S. users, within their patent and the Munitions Laws. By

I find it hard to believe that the maintainer of the ftp site rsa.com
is such an idiot as to have never heard that it is possible to do host
filtering of the anonymous users. It is also possible to cause a
message to be displayed whenever the anonymous user changes to a
particular directory. No such steps have been taken by the moderator
of the ftp site rsa.com. Therefore, they have taken active steps to
violate the ITAR restrictions.

> revealing how to get the files without agreeing to the license,
> or even reading it, Mark has likely spoiled it for the rest of us.

The one who spoiled you the pleasure is actually RSA. You should sue
them... :-) Actually, my oppinion is that they have done this
"mistake" deliberately, in order to ensure wide distribution of their
code. Don't forget that their interests are hampered by the ITAR
restrictions.

> Shame!

Indeed. But that's life.

> Since I take this personally, given the efforts of many to provide a
> free, usable, legal public key system for non-commercial use in the
> U.S. I have copied Mark's message to the President of RSA, for what
> action he may wish to take.

I personally laugh at any actions the President of RSA might wish to
take. However, the documentation of RIPEM contains a polite request
from its author not to distribute the package outside the USA. I am
much more likely to respect a polite request than the silly patent or
export regulations of a country I am even not living in, so I will not
distribute RIPEM. Besides, I will even not use it - there are much
fewer people to communicate with and the key management is not
suitable for me.

Regards,
Vesselin
-- 
Vesselin Vladimirov Bontchev          Virus Test Center, University of Hamburg
Tel.:+49-40-54715-224, Fax: +49-40-54715-226      Fachbereich Informatik - AGN
< PGP 2.1 public key available on request. > Vogt-Koelln-Strasse 30, rm. 107 C
e-mail: bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de    D-2000 Hamburg 54, Germany
Newsgroups: sci.crypt
From: Owen.Lewis@purplet.demon.co.uk (Owen Lewis)