[4581] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: idea, cast as used in PGP
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jon Callas)
Sat May 1 12:50:16 1999
In-Reply-To: <3729F207.47D7@accessdata.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 23:59:03 -0700
To: Mike Stay <staym@accessdata.com>, cryptography@c2.net
From: Jon Callas <jon@callas.org>
At 11:10 AM -0700 4/30/99, Mike Stay said:
I think CAST-256 is the default symmetric encryption used in PGP 5.x,
6.x freeware; the openPGP draft supports a bunch of other algs including
IDEA, which is patented. Could we charge for a product that simply uses
those algorithms to get the secret key from the keyring (we're not
encrypting anything with symmetric keys) without paying royalties?
Assuming that you really mean, would you run afoul of a patent if you
charged for such a thing, yes, you would. You would even if you didn't
charge.
However, CAST-128 (a.k.a. CAST5) is the one used in PGP 5.x and PGP 6.x. It
is patented, but there's a world-wide free-use license. See Entrust's web
site for details. CAST-256 (one of the AES candidates) is presently not
specified. OpenPGP only madates the use of Triple-DES. Others are optional.
Jon
