Why did MIT release PGP 2.6, when PGP 2.3 is already available?
Using PGP 2.3 in the U.S. potentially infringes patents licensedexclusively to Public Key Partners by Stanford University and MIT.This sticky patent situation has deterred the spread of PGP, becausemany people and institutions did not wish to risk violatingintellectual property restrictions. MIT has addressed this problem in PGP 2.6 by using RSAREF, which is licensed by RSA Data Security, Inc. RSADSI acknowledges that PGP 2.6is a legitimate RSAREF application. The RSAREF license includesrights to all of the relevant U.S. patents on public key cryptographyfor non-commercial use.
