openssl port status

Hi,
I just wanted to check what the status of the ecos port of openssl at ftp://ftp.ecoscentric.com/pub/contrib/openssl-1.9.6b.epk is.
Is this the latest version around (it seems to be reasonably old, but they may not be a bad thing).
Should I be looking anywhere else for a later version?

Also, a specific question about the port: is there any reason why the IDEA encryption algorithm (which is patented) is required in order to enable the SSL API? Without SSL API I can't do anything, which sort of implies that I have to enable IDEA, but I don't want to use patented algorithms. Have I misunderstood something fundamental here?
Best regards,
Tim