[6110] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Spies in the 'forests'
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eivind Eklund)
Mon Nov 22 18:27:27 1999
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 22:58:51 +0100
From: Eivind Eklund <eivind@yes.no>
To: Russell Nelson <nelson@crynwr.com>
Cc: cryptography@c2.net
Message-ID: <19991122225851.E602@bitbox.follo.net>
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In-Reply-To: <14393.42001.588660.180479@desk.crynwr.com>; from nelson@crynwr.com on Mon, Nov 22, 1999 at 03:14:45PM -0500
On Mon, Nov 22, 1999 at 03:14:45PM -0500, Russell Nelson wrote:
> Craig Raskin writes:
> > http://trec.nist.gov/pubs/trec6/papers/nsa-rev.ps
>
> Why would the NSA patent this? It's not like the NSA can't keep a
> (trade) secret.
My guess: They are expecting somebody else to develop it separately,
and by patenting it they can refuse them a license, and thus keep them
from delivering technology to the commercial arena (which *would* end
up with the NSA's "competitors", and at commerical world prices).
Eivind.
