Re: [TLS] Last Call: draft-ietf-tls-extractor (Keying Material Exporters for Transport Layer Security (TLS)) to Proposed Standard

[Erick O <[e-mail]>]

________________________________
From: Richard Stallman <[e-mail]>
To: Nicolas Williams <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 6:37:54 PM
Subject: Re: [TLS] Last Call: draft-ietf-tls-extractor (Keying Material Exporters for Transport Layer Security (TLS)) to Proposed Standard

    The operative word here is uncertainty.  A patent-holder creates
    uncertainty.  How should an SDO respond?  I'm not sure.  I'm only sure
    that I don't like getting DoSed, either into dropping a standard or into
    not implementing it for fear of infringing.

That's the nature of software patents: each one denies people the
freedom to write and run certain kinds of software.  This is why we
must abolish software patents.

Until we succeed in doing that, we can resist in certain ways.  One of
them is to refuse to establish standards that encourage their use.

Generally speaking, standards are useful, because they enable people
to converge what they are doing.  But that ceases to be true when the
use of the standard is patented.  It is better to have no standard
than have a standard that invites people into danger.
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