[FYI] How we can save PGP - Zimmermann

[Axel H Horns]

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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