GnuPG illegal in the US?

[BenRussell]

Is GnuPG illegal in the United States? For instance, if I have a web server that uses GnuPG to encrypt emails sent to and from it, and this web server is located in the United States, is this illegal?

Also, what if I use GnuPG for personal use on my home PC?

- Ben

 

[sleipnir214]

From what source have you heard it's illegal?

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[BenRussell]

http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x/x23.html

It may or may not be legal to use RSA and IDEA without licensing these algorithms. RSA is only patented in the United States, so it is legal to build RSA versions outside of the United States. The extension module for GnuPG is such a version and it may be legally used outside the United States, but it is illegal to use it in the United States. In the United States there exists a reference implementation for RSA called RSAREF, available at ftp.funet.fi or at debian.org, that may be used legally without a charge in the USA for non commercial use. Due to export restrictions this code cannot be exported, so there are two ways to integrate RSA into GnuPG: one for the USA and Canada, and one for the rest of the world.


And also:

http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/pgp2x/x23.html

- Ben

 

[BenRussell]

However, I thought that maybe this was outdated documentation since the US has passed new laws.

- Ben

 

[sleipnir214]

It's not that GnuPG is outlawed.

It's that GnuPG doesn't by default support some cyphers, as those cyphers are patented. The page then goes on to describe how support for these cyphers can be installed through compilation of the software.

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[BenRussell]

So it would not be illegal for me to use GnuPG on my web server (that is based in the United States)?

- Ben

 

[viol8ion]

GnuPG is legal to use in the US... what you may have heard is about the laws prohibiting the export of encryption to countries outside the US. Our gov't, even though it pretends to endorse free speech, has a problem when some people may be practising it and not allowing them to eavesdrop.

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[sleipnir214]

BenRussell:
It is not illegal to use GnuPG in the U.S. The only way your particular copy of GnuPG might be illegal is if you compiled into the software support for the IDEA cipher. Using IDEA without licensing it would be illegal.

This page at RSA implies that the patent on RSA's cypher should have expired September 20, 2000:

http://www.rsasecurity.com/rsalabs/faq/6-3-5.html

If you are using IDEA for non-commercial purposes, this page states that you do not need a license:

http://www.mediacrypt.com/indexExplorer.htm

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http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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