>
> >(The versions normally built in the USA are either illegal to use there
> >(no RSAREF) or only legal to use for non-commercial purposes.)
>
> What does "non-commercial" mean in this sense?
This is one of the great problems with use of this term. Unless otherwise
stated, I assume non-commercial means approximately any use by any
business (although, in this case universities and schools, even though
they may be structured as businesses are excluded). Some non-commercial
use restrictions only relate to commercial supply, e.g. the Kermit
restriction forbids supply where there is any commercial relationship
between the parties (e.g. an ISP can't supply it to their customer,
not even as a "free gift"); in the Kermit case, this is rather explicit.
>
> If I go to amazon.com, am I now breaking the law?
You would have to look at the precise terms on the class licence on
the RSA patent, although chances are that it is not well defined in
this respect. My guess is that, unless and until free software passed
from user to user starts undermining the sales of commercial software
and commercially sold "free" software (e.g. Red Hat Linux), use for
individuals in relation to their private lives is probably considered OK;
the intention of this sort of dispensation is to ensure that the technology
becomes the dominant one in the market so that royalties can be obtained
from people from whom it is economical to recover them.
> If my sysadmin installs it, am I breaking the law regardless of where I
> go?
I would assume that to be the case, unless you are in an educational
institution, although you might be OK if they are acting as your personal
agent rather than on behalf of the company (doing it in unpaid time would
probably a reasonable indication of this!).
