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SubjectRe: DES module in kernel?
>    Date: 	Tue, 16 Mar 1999 07:17:11 -0800 (PST)
> From: Mike Eisler <mre@eng.sun.com>
>
> Whoever is "in charge" of Linux will need to seek legal counsel
> versed in these issues. The U.S. has relaxed export control laws, and
> so export of 56 bit DES is possible (I've done it), and legal, but
> only with an appropriate export control license.
>
> Yes, but to my knowledge the applicable agencies generally don't like
> giving export control licenses for source which contains DES. After
> all, once DES made it into an export-approved source base, that means
> that a patch to do triple-DES is about a 20-line patch. :-)
>
> If someone has any knowledge to the contrary, please let me know, since
> I'm very interested (for more packages than just Linux), but as far as I
> know, source-level exports are quite different from the kind of
> binary-level exports that is generally done for propietary software.

It certainly used to be case that any kind of encryption, even if used for
just authentication, was verboten. Now it is possible to get export of crypto
for used for just DES. I haven't exported DES source code yet, and have no
plans to, since it might be more hassle than it is worth. Others among
my employer might try though, and I'll you know if they suceed.

Adding 3DES means adding the code that negotiates 3DES encryption types in
addition to the actual crypto code, and while it may be simple for a Kerberos
V5 wizard, it is not so simple for Dumb User type that the U.S. gov't crypto
policy is trying to keep crypto away from. This policy is extremely effective
for keeping good crypto from the hands of U.S. users and non-U.S. users. You
and I are at IETF this week, and even a holy shrine to personal freedom like
the free IETF terminal room has every copy of netscape and IE4 using 40bit
RC4. Nonetheless, we can look in Ken's krb5 faq to find the ftp site in the UK
that offers unadulterated MIT KRB5 1.0.x source code with no screens
asking us to confirm our citizenship.

It is worth it for MIT to try, and unlike Open Source, M*I*T is
a concrete institution with access to decent legal expertise.

-mre


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