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[FYI] How we can save PGP - Zimmermann
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- Subject: [FYI] How we can save PGP - Zimmermann
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- Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 10:32:16 +0100
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/24336.html
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How we can save PGP - Zimmermann
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 08/03/2002 at 07:44 GMT
PGP inventor Phil Zimmermann says PGP can be saved, and has outlined
how in an interview with The Register yesterday.
"PGP is an institution that's bigger than any single company, or
codebase, or product," says Zimmermann. "It's in limbo right now, and
limbo is a bad place to be."
Network Associates Inc wrote to customers last week informing them
that it was ceasing development on PGP Desktop, and while promising
to honor existing support contracts, said no bugfixes or updates
would be issued. PGP staff were being transferred to Network
Associates other business units. The company, which bought PGP Inc in
1997 for $36 million announced it wanted to find a buyer for PGP last
November, but hasn't found an acceptable offer yet.
Zimmermann said he wanted NAI to release the source code, suggesting
a Berkeley-style license, and hoped to encourage development around
the Open PGP standard:
"The demise of the PGP business unit at NA is not the demise of the
open PGP standard; there are other companies that implement the
product that use the standard. Go to OpenPGP.org and you'll find a
lot of concerned people that want to fill this niche."
"Anyone interested in helping should contact me," he added.
Zimmermann said he'd welcome a big name sponsor - we suggested an
Apple, or an HP - to back OpenPGP development. Right now, he
admitted, the free software versions needed a slick GUI to bring them
up to the fit and finish of the PGP equivalents.
PGP's Desktop, a slick and well-regarded personal privacy suite which
included an encrypted file system for Windows and the Macintosh, and
integration with ICQ, is no longer available for download, and you
can't find anything except the enterprise products at PGP's
"evaluation" page.
This leaves Mac OS X and Windows XP users in a fix, as the current
PGP products aren't compatible with the new operating systems.
And what's scandalous is that NAI has OS X and XP-ready versions, but
won't ship them.
Zimmermann first published Pretty Good Privacy in 1991, and left
Network Associates a year ago. He declined to comment on NAI's
stewardship of the software, although Register readers, including
many PGP users, haven't been nearly so diplomatic.
It's a good time to remind NAI of its responsibilities to its
customers, to the PGP community, and remind potential purchasers of
the value of privacy software. ®
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