I would like to add one more piece to this puzzle. There is one
large set of potential U.S. users that can use RSA royalty-free; the
U.S. federal government.
Here are two references.
>From the RSA FAQ, section 6.3.1
http://www.rsasecurity.com/rsalabs/faq/6-3-1.html
....
The U.S. government can use RSA without a license
because it was invented at MIT with partial government
funding.
....
And, from a letter RSA president Bidzos sent to congress in 1991
during the RSA versus DSA turmoil
http://www.epic.org/crypto/dss/rsa_dss_ltr_1991.html
...
NIST cites, as a major justification for this decision,
economic factors related to patent applicability. (see
"U.S. Plan s Seen Hurting Electronic Data Standard,"
the Wall Street Journal, July 2, 1991.) NIST feels the
government should not pay royalties for the use of technology.
(see "NIST Proposes Standard for Electronic Signatures -
Move Criticized y Some as Ignoring Tried and True," Network
World, July 1, 1991.) It is a simple fact that the U.S.
government
does not need to pay royalties or any fees for the use of any
public-key cryptography developed in the U.S. since the known
public-key schemes were all developed with at least partial
federal funding, thereby giving the government royalty-free use.
Further, the government has the right to solicit the private
sector to build products, royalty-free, for government use.
This
justification by NIST could not be more wrong.
...
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