> Well, if that lasts 17 years, it's a real-soon-now thing. :-)
> On a related note, how could RSA possibly still be patented? It's in my
> old maths history book as 'the MIT encryption algorithm' developed in the 60s
> or 70s, even that book must be around 10-20 years old. Or is something which
> makes implementing RSA efficiently possible patented, or the idea of actually
> using it on a computer (instead of to "encrypt" large numbers :-)?
Somewhat off-topic, but as it both answers your query and is also
interesting to those working on kernel cryptography support, here's a quote
from rsa.com's cryptography FAQ:
RSA is patented under U.S. Patent 4,405,829, issued September 29, 1983
and held by RSA Data Security, Inc.; the patent expires 17 years after
issue, in the year 2000. RSA Data Security has a standard,
royalty-based licensing policy, which can be modified for special
circumstances. The U.S. government can use RSA without a license
because it was invented at MIT with partial government funding.
In the U.S., a license is needed to make, use or sell RSA. However,
RSA Data Security usually allows free non-commercial use of RSA, with
written permission, for academic or university research purposes.
[End of quote].
It is important to note that RSA is only patented in the US. Here, in
Israel, I can use it freely, even in commercial software (ignoring the fact
that the letter of the law here says that I can't use encryption at all
without prior written permission from the authorities. Nobody follows or
enforces that law, though).
Nimrod
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