[44503] in Cypherpunks
Re: Info on Netscape's key escrow position
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alex Strasheim)
Sat Dec 2 19:13:40 1995
From: Alex Strasheim <cp@proust.suba.com>
To: jsw@netscape.com (Jeff Weinstein)
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 1995 18:09:22 -0600 (CST)
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: <30C0E317.71DC@netscape.com> from "Jeff Weinstein" at Dec 2, 95 03:36:55 pm
> Many customers in other countries want our US version. They are pushing
> on their governments and the US government to get it. This is already
> happening.
Couldn't you set up a company in the Netherlands or some such place that
allowed you to export to the rest of the world?
There could be a US version of Netscape, produced here in the States, and
a strong international version produced by a different company, using non
crypto technology licensed from Netscape and a crypto engine produced
entirely offshore. You could make the offshore firm virtually worthless
by forcing them to give all the money to Netscape proper in the form of
licensing fees. It wouldn't matter who owned it, so you could give the
franchise to a Dutch national without giving away the store.
I seem to remember US companies getting around restrictions on doing
business with South Africa using a similar strategy.
