Comment by rdl
11 years ago
Yes -- the issue was the code was strongly associated with named US persons in the US. If the code appeared outside the uS, it would have been difficult or impossible for any entity complying with US law to make use of that code, and there might have been serious repercussions on the named US people (PRZ, specifically).
The source code itself got posted anonymously before this point (I believe on cypherpunks@toad.com list), but officially exporting it like this was still helpful.
The goals were: staying out of jail but ALSO potentially making money through commercial versions, support, etc. There have been at least 3 incarnations of PGP as a commercial company.