[109580] in Cypherpunks
Re: P1363: Biprime Cryptography to replace RSA?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Arnold G. Reinhold)
Tue Mar 30 10:02:51 1999
In-Reply-To: <199903300127.RAA19778@toad.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 09:18:09 -0500
To: John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>, cypherpunks@toad.com, jya@pipeline.com
From: "Arnold G. Reinhold" <reinhold@world.std.com>
Cc: stds-p1363@mail.ieee.org
Reply-To: "Arnold G. Reinhold" <reinhold@world.std.com>
At 5:27 PM -0800 3/29/99, John Gilmore wrote:
>>
>> Security Dynamics Technologies, Inc. has sent a letter to the P1363
>> working group regarding trademark protection of the RSA name. The letter
>> is now available from our patents page
>> http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1363/patents.html
>> or directly at
>> http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/1363/letters/SecurityDynamics.jpg
>
>Now that their patent is getting ready to expire (next fall), RSA is
>trying to crack down on anyone who refers to the use of the
>algorithm by calling it "RSA". They don't mind if you call it "type
>1" or something else meaningless and irrelevant, though. This is a
>new low for a company known for self-serving legal bluster.
>
...
>
>Perhaps we should have a little contest for what to call the RSA
>algorithm, given RSA's objection to calling a shovel a spade.
>
I too have problems with Security Dynamics's attempt to prevent use of the
term RSA to describe what everyone calls RSA cryptography. I also question
their legal right to recend the written permission they granted to use the
name, which permission the IEEE P-1363 committee has already relied on at
considerable expense. The committee should consult a lawyer on this (I am
not one).
However, if Security Dynamics is taking that attitude, it might be
desirable to agree on an alternative generic name. "Type 1" is
unacceptable, both because it is too cryptic and because the NSA already
uses it to refer to algorithms approved for protecting classified
information.
I would propose "Biprime Cryptography" or "BPC" as the generic term for
RSA. Biprime is a natural and appropriate English name for the product of
two primes. Compare it with bicycle, biped, or bifocal. Biprime
Cryptography sounds distinctive and is somewhat self-explanitory. It also
leads to simpler language for discussing the algorithm's components. One
can talk about someone's public BPC key as their public biprime or just
their biprime. Their secret BPC key could also be their secret biprime
factor or just their secret factor. The underlying security rests, in part,
on the difficulty of factoring biprimes. And so on.
If RSADSI no longer wishes the public to honor their founders, we might as
well choose a descriptive name.
Arnold Reinhold
