PGP is a program that gives your electronic mail something that it otherwise doesn't have: Privacy. It does this by encrypting your mail so that nobody but the intended person can read it. When encrypted, the message looks like a meaningless jumble of random characters. PGP has proven itself quite capable of resisting even the most sophisticated forms of analysis aimed at reading the encrypted text. PGP also provides digitial signature and integrity provisions. PGP is based on the RSA public/private key system, the MD5 message digest function, and the IDEA data encryption algorithm. Note that in the United States a patent has been issued that may cover use of the RSA algorithm in applications such as PGP. US users should therefore use either the 2.6 version for non-commerical use, or the 2.7 commercial version from ViaCrypt (until either the patent expires or is ruled invalid). Both versions have been constructed in such a way that they do not violate the patent. Users outside the United States may ftp 2.6ui from numerous ftp sites. The "archie" service may be used to identify one. Users of pre-2.6 versions should seriously consider upgrading for two reasons: * 2.6/2.7 contains fixes for earlier bugs * Messages generated after 1 Sept 94 by 2.6 and 2.6ui will not be readable by pre-2.6 vesions after that date. We do not have 2.6ui present on our machine for ftp as that would be a potential violation of the patent. We do not have 2.6 present for ftp because that would violate the license for use of the RSAREF toolkit (a part of PGP 2.6). We urge you to consult other archive sites for copies of PGP. Within the US: ftp://net-dist.mit.edu/pub/PGP Outside: many, including ftp.psy.uq.oz.au /pub/PGP We should also note that stupid US ITAR laws may also make it illegal to ftp PGP to sites outside the US from inside the US, despite its widespread use and presence world-wide. That seems to be what happens when lawyers and politicians make laws governing technology...