Cyphernomicon Index
Cyphernomicon 7.14

PGP -- Pretty Good Privacy:
The Future of PGP


   7.14.1. "Does PGP help or hurt public key methods in general and RSA
            Data Security Inc. in particular?"
           - The outcome is not final, but on balance I think the
              position of RSADSI is helped by the publicity PGP has
              generated. Users of PGP will "graduate" to fully-licensed
              versions, in many cases. Corporations will then use
              RSADSI's products.
           + Interestingly, PGP could do the "radical" things that
              RSADSI was not prepared to do. (Uses familiar to
              Cypherpunks.)
             - bypassing export restrictions is an example of this
             - incorporation into experimental digital cash systems
           - Parasitism often increases the rate of evolution. Certainly
              PGP has helped to light a fire under RSADSI.
   7.14.2. Stealth PGP
           - Xenon, Nik, S-Tools,
   7.14.3. "Should we work on a more advanced version, a *Really Good
            Privacy*?"
           - easier said than done...strong committment of time
           - not clear what is needed...
   7.14.4. "Can changes and improvements be made to PGP?"
           - I consider it one of the supreme ironies of our age that
              Phil Zimmermann has denounced Tom Rollins for making
              various changes to a version of PGP he makes available.
           + Issues:
             - Phil's reputation, and that of PGP
             - intellectual property
             - GNU Public license
             - the mere name of PGP
             - Consider that RSA said much the same thing, that PGP
                would degrade the reputation of public key (esp. as Phil
                was an "amateur," the same exact phrasing PRZ uses to
                criticize Tom Rollins!)
           - I'm not taking a stand here....I don't know the details.
              Just some irony.
 

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