In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Ron Rivest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>If no per-key approval is needed, then I don't see why one can't
>distribute code that embodies a fixed transformation procedure, since
>this is really a "key" rather than a "program". That is, the
>distributed specifies a single transformation out of a large universe
>of possible transformations. Thus, a routine that computes:
>
> y = AES(M,k0)
>
>for transforming a message according to some fixed 256-bit AES key k0
>is really more like a key (it is k0 in another representation) than it
>is like a general-purpose encryption routine. Of course, it may (or
>may not) be easy to modify such distributed code to handle arbitrary
>keys (;-))
This *is* in fact the case. EAR 774 - Commerce Control List Section 5,
section 5A002, specifically _excludes_:
# b. Equipment containing ``fixed'' data compression or coding techniques;
So a program which computed y = AES(M,k_fixed) *is* exportable without a
licence. But probably not in source form... :-)
- Ian
