PGP Export license?

Justin Dolske (dolske@cis.ohio-state.edu)
Thu, 29 May 1997 15:35:08 -0400 (EDT)

Has anyone been able to make heads or tails of what PGP is now allowed to
export? Their website (and news.com) has some vague press releases about
this new news... Whatever it is they're allowed to export, it can only go
to a few US subsidiaries overseas. The "problem" is that they don't say
anything more detailed than "128 bit or strong encryption."

My best guess is that it's limited to 128 bit RC4/5 based algorithms. 128
bit RSA keys are pathetically weak, hardly even encryption. So it's got to
be 128 bits of symmetric cipher keys. This begs the question of why *128*
bits? Assuming there's no flaw in RC4/5 (or whatever), anything above 100
or so bits should be secure.

Justin Dolske <URL:http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~dolske/>
(dolske@cis.ohio-state.edu)
Graduate Fellow / Research Associate at The Ohio State University, CIS Dept.
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