Status of Cryptography Research in implementation of the EUCD

[Graham]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Thursday 15 Aug 2002 11:43 am, Owen Lewis wrote:

> If I lease you an idea implemented in some fashion that makes it
> capable of practical use, I need protection for my idea so that I may
> also sell it to others but you may not do likewise. After all, I only
> charged you for use of my idea by one person and not 100,000. Since
> my idea will have cost me a 6/7/8/9 figure sum to conceive and bring
> to the point of reliable practical application, I can only do such
> work if I make a large number of sales and, like everyone else, I
> look to the law to help me in preventing thieves diminishing the
> worth of my investment by stealing profits from it for themselves.
>
>
> The next complaint one often hears is that the profits are so
> 'obscene' as to be immoral in themselves and should not be supported
> by IP law. The truth is that profit is the reward for risk. The
> inventor or the company who funds and inventor) takes risks that the
> man in the street would never take (otherwise he would have become an
> inventor or inventor backer).

I'm sorry, but I do not agree with you; you are entitled to your=20
opinion, but "closed box" software when implementing ideas just does=20
not work.  There is no way of eliminating bugs unless the user base is=20
big enough to use the source code freely, amend it, and make it better=20
and more efficient.  Cryptographic software could never have the degree=20
of trust that it needs unless it was available (in algorithm and source=20
code) for peer review, including the algorithms adopted by it and not=20
just the code.  And that can only happen if every user is free to adapt=20
the software in any way they wish, as long as they pass it on to others=20
on the same terms.

And business likes this.  That's because they can maintain their=20
software, and adopt it to their own specific needs, because the source=20
is available.  And if I, as a home user, can't use the home computer I=20
have legally bought in any way I want for any legal purpose because of=20
a user agreement that forbids the way I use the software, it is immoral=20
and should be illegal.
- --=20

Graham
GPG Key ID: E935DB9D

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Please sign and encrypt for internet privacy

iD8DBQE9W7yzIwtBZOk1250RAr6UAJ0X1nU7ZeIFaN048oBXopvLA9RD4gCaAiTy
+q5ubE/1u2OnfOUuYL0VjUk=3D
=3DvIzI
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----