I see one problem with adding NTRU to Crypto++ library.

Crypto++ can be used by anybody for any purpose, which includes using the code 
in commercial products.

NTRU is explicitly licensed under GPL, which explicitly forbids commercial use 
(unless you purchase a commercial license).

I don’t want to have Crypto++ contaminated by code with a license far more 
restrictive than what it has now.

My $.02.

P.S. Reading about Snowden and the noise that has been following, I wonder 
whether Lithium on this planet recently ran out.


On Feb 11, 2014, at 16:16 , Ruben De Smet <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have some questions on an interesting topic (I think).
> 
> Introduction
> ------------
> 
> NTRU is a public key cryptosystem which is not known to be breakable by
> Shor's algorithm, to which RSA, ElGamal and their associated algorithms
> are vulnerable with a significant risk when quantum computers become
> more powerful.
> NTRU is a lattice based cryptosystem.
> As I believe that an alternative should be available before there are
> (known) quantum computers which are able to run Shor on a real life key,
> I am investigating possibilities on this topic for a long time now.
> These investigations have been accelerated since Edward Snowden has
> revealed that those things that have been written by Dan Brown are
> becoming true.
> 
> My proposal
> -----------
> 
> I would be very interested in implementing the NTRU algorithm for
> CryptoPP. I would publish in public domain (or at any other license) so
> the code can be merged in the CryptoPP code.
> 
> Issue
> -----
> 
> - As NTRU is patented, I want to ask the list if there are any issues in
> implementing this algorithm in a public source code. Should we ask
> permission form the authors?
> There is a (GPL'ed) implementation available. As the code of CryptoPP is
> public domain (and the compilation Boost 1), I would suggest of
> rewriting the whole thing. I could still write unit tests based on
> CryptoPP and the official implementation under GPL license, apart from
> the CryptoPP code.
> 
> The readme file in the official C++ implementation [1] states
> "Furthermore, the open source licensing allows users to implement the
> NTRU algorithm in other languages and for other operating systems beyond
> those we currently support."
> I read this as "yes, we can".
> 
> What are your suggestions and opinions?
> Are there other people working on this yet?
> Are there other issues of which I should be aware?
> 
> Ruben De Smet - aka rubdos
> 

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