“Perhaps hoping to stifle any Mozilla-type celebration within
the anti-software patent community, RSA Security (RSAS), official
administrators of the RSA public key encryption patent, dumped
their crown jewel into the public domain on Wednesday, two weeks
ahead of schedule.”
“Originally granted on Sept. 20, 1983, the RSA algorithm patent
was set to expire on the 17th anniversary of that original grant
due to federal patent law….”
“Theo De Raadt, project leader for OpenBSD says the security
conscious decision may incorporate a free version of RSA in the
next release, slated for December. Then again, OpenBSD users have
always had a way around the patent.”
“Because the patent only applies inside the U.S., non-U.S.
users simply could download a library package that included RSA
functionality via OpenBSD’s Canadian servers. U.S. users could,
too, provided they were willing to run the risk of antagonizing RSA
Security’s lawyers.“