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The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 17:20:40 ADT
Perry E. Metzger (perry@piermont.com)
Mon, 20 Jul 1998 14:45:22 -0400
Bob Baldwin writes:
> Similarly, if the RC6 cipher is used in modes that are
> not covered by the FIPS, then implementations of those
> modes could be subject to patent enforcement. For example,
> if the modes do not cover building a digest function out
> of AES, then the winner will does not need to give up rights
> to AES as the basis for a digest function.
Great.
Just when I thought I could trust RSA DSI, you use weasel words in
this context to make us all feel as though, as interesting as RC6 may
be, we dare not make it the AES.
> These ground rules are basically the same ones that
> were applied to IBM's DES submission, so if you are
> comfortable (from a legal viewpoint, not a security
> viewpoint) using DES, then you should be comfortable
> (legally) using the AES winner.
DES has been routinely used in weird new modes, and IBM never
attempted to enforce the patent on it under any circumstances. They
accepted that DES was no longer something they should expect to profit
from. Here, however, I think you are making it clear that RSA DSI will
probably make the users of the AES miserable if the deviate in the
slightest from the FIPS. Thanks, but no thanks. I think we'd rather
just sleep well at night. The only way now I'd be able to support the
use of RC6 as the AES would be if RSA DSI agreed to dedicate the
patent to the public domain if it won, which I'm sure you'll never do.
Perry
The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 17:20:40 ADT