[Cryptography Team] ECC and/or NSA Suite B?

[Ron Teitelbaum]

> 
> So, advice?  Should I press ahead?

No, let's clarify the license first.

Ron

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> Cerebus
> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 2:43 PM
B?
> 
> On 11/24/06, Matthew S. Hamrick <mhamrick at cryptonomicon.net> wrote:
> 
> > With all the discussion of FIPS 140, I had assumed that most everyone
> > on the list is working on government contracts. Otherwise, why bother
> > with it?
> 
> Because it enables its use in products.  Without a FIPS certificate, a
> crypto implementation faces serious hurdles for inclusion in a product
> (and lately DoD has been cracking down on FIPS waivers).  But it's
> hard to get people to pony up to pay for certification unless there's
> an immediate use.  Chicken, meet egg.  :)
> 
> > The NSA negotiated a blanket US Federal Government deal for
> > Certicom's patent portfolio for use in ECDSA, ECDH and ECMQV. So...
> > if you're a federal government agency, you get to use these
> > algorithms without having to pay Certicom anything extra. So... if
> > part of what you're hoping to do is to create an ECC implementation
> > that can be used by a federal agency, then you can do so without fear
> > of the Certicom lawyers. Now... the moment the implementation gets
> > used in a commercial product, then you've got issues.
> 
> And that's the rub.  I'd love to implement something because:
> 
> 1) I love crypto, and building an ECC implementation would teach me a
> great deal about it;
> 
> 2) It gives me a reason to learn Smalltalk, something I've toyed with
> a dozen times in the past but never made progress at because I had
> nothing concrete to work on; and
> 
> 3) It would just be fun.  I'm weird that way.
> 
> But the last thing I want to do is run afoul of Certicom (or cause
> others to run afoul of them).
> 
> So, advice?  Should I press ahead?
> 
> -- Tim
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