🚀 go-pugleaf

smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:

>The code is real; I have seen a copy of it.  I've been told that the
>production version really will be distributed, and quite soon.  My
>information is from the authors themselves.  You're welcome to call
>this a rumor if you wish -- and certainly, the software had been
>promised long ago; another delay would not be a surprise.

Suppose this software comes bundled into a system that happens to be
unusable in certain circumstances, it "unfriendly" to a certain class
of users, or in some other way comes wrapped in an unsuitable implementation.

What my concern will be is that we won't be granted the freedom to "fix"
the implementation.

I rarely see, in both free or commercial software, implementations that
are truly suitable for all cases.  Free software usually comes with source
(fixed platforms like Mac and PC clones tend to have lots of non-source)
and thus individuals can fix things, or add improvements (but I call that
"fixing" anyway) themselves.  But what about distributing the fixes?

>As far as I know -- and I know much less about this than I do about
>the patent process -- the agreement with Public Key Partners about
>the use of RSA for PEM does not require that one use any particular
>software.  It would seem, then, that use of your software on the
>Internet would be permissible *if* users paid their license fees
>to obtain the certificates.  I would not be suprised if the agreement
>extended only to RFC-compliant implementations, but that isn't a
>major stumbling block, as far as I can see.

I guess we will have to wait and see what PKP is really wanting to do
about this.

However, if the end user licensing process involves them assigning the
actual keys, I certainly won't go for it, free or commercial.  If it
constitutes simply a registry of public keys (you give them your public
key) then that seems reasonable as long as there are no restrictions on
using other unregistered keys.
-- 
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/ Phil Howard -- KA9WGN -- phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu   |  Guns don't aim guns at  \
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