Section 12.3 Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) | Real World Linux Security Prentice Hall Ptr Open Source Technology Series

12.3 Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)

The Pretty Good Privacy software (PGP) actually is so good that the U.S. government harassed, threatened, and sued Philip Zimmermann relentlessly to attempt to stop him from distributing it until it appeared that the courts were about to rule that software is covered under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment right to free speech. At that point, Justice Department lawyers asked the court to let them withdraw their case and told Philip, "never mind."

The reason given for this harassment is that PGP offers such good encryption that the NSA cannot decrypt PGP-encrypted messages, and thus it prevents the NSA from carrying out its role in national security. The government still pressured Zimmermann and U.S. distribution sites to allow downloads of the software only by U.S. citizens in the U.S. and Canadian citizens in Canada because software for decrypting encrypted messages is considered munitions and is restricted. Because PGP is widely available outside the U.S. and Canada, this author does not understand this policy (this policy might have changed by the time you read this). Canadians may not export it out of Canada without risking prison.

Sufficiently powerful computers also are considered munitions and their export (even temporarily) is restricted. When Ken Thompson, co-inventor of UNIX, from which Linux is descended, returned to the U.S. with his Chess computer, Belle, from a chess tournament in Russia, U.S. Customs seized his computer and Bell Labs ended up paying the sizable fine.

MIT distributes PGP Freeware without cost for personal, noncommercial use within the United States and Canada. The latest version, 6.5.8, includes a VPN product and Self-Decrypting Archives which allow you to exchange information securely even with those who have not installed PGP. Other purposes have required a fee, due to PGP's use of patented RSA software; the patents expired in September 2000 but fees still might be required. Generally, the U.S. government forbids PGP's export other than to Canada on the grounds that it is a weapon. This severely limits its usefulness.

The following site offers downloads of PGP with the above-mentioned restrictions:

http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html

Those outside the U.S. and Canada, or inside them too, may download PGP from

www.pgpi.org/

In 2002, Network Associates announced that it no longer would support PGP. Consider GPG, discussed next, which the author considers to be far easier to use and more capable anyway.

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