[118058] in Cypherpunks
Starium's phone encryption
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lazlo Toth)
Sat Sep 18 13:53:34 1999
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Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 13:25:48 -0400
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Lazlo Toth <lazlototh@hempseed.com>
Cc: Eric Blossom <eb@starium.com>
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Reply-To: Lazlo Toth <lazlototh@hempseed.com>
I read at <http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG19990423S0015> that, in
addition to selling a sub-$100 hardware device, Eric Blossom's
Starium <http://www.starium.com> intends to license their algorithm
to digital phone manufacturers and is working on a single-chip
solution which can be OEMed for analog phones.
Does anyone know if Starium intends to release enough details of
their algorithm that others could manufacture compatible devices? Or
are they planning to use patents to enforce a monopoly or milk
licensing revenue from their competitors? (I was unable to find any
US patents assigned to Starium or Comsec, though I am not expert at
patent searches.)
It would be wonderful if this technology became ubiquitous. An open
standard unencumbered by IP concerns would help a lot. I understand
they use 3DES and Diffie-Hellman, which are both unencumbered,
correct?
-Lazlo
