Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
inga very famous man indeed. However, fame sometimes enenders costs. In
1993, he was put under criminal investigation, since the government charged
that PGP was available to criminals, and they were also concerned about
export regulations. The exportation of strong cryptography programs, they
maintained, was deemed to be equivalent to illegally exporting munitions!
Fortunately, perhaps because the
government finally realized the fu-
tility of this war with the Internet
as the battleground, they oJcially
dropped the investigation on Jan-
uary 11, 1996.
Zimmermann launched a new
company called,
Pretty Good Pri-
vacy Inc.
to market the software
to commercial enterprises, but due
to his lack of business acumen,
it was going nowhere fast, so he
turned over the reigns to some
business types. However, the com-
pany eventually went to the brink
of bankruptcy before it was sold to
Network Associates Inc.
, (NAI) an
established computer firm, where
Zimmermann remained as its figu-
rative head, as well as special ad-
visor, and consultant. It is worth
endingthis anecdote with an ironic note about Zimmermann and the com-
mercial version of PGP. Duringa party held by NAI at a conference in 2000,
Zimmermann staged a demonstration of launching a commercial version of his
product over a computer to a market abroad, an act for which he was, years
earlier, put under criminal investigation. The new millennium has arrived, and
privacy is no longer in the hands of private enterprise or governments.
Zimmermann has received numerous awards for his achievements. Among
them are: the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design in 1995 (see
http://www.chrysler.com/design/design influences/design awards/1995/
); the
1995 Pioneer award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation; the Nor-
bert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibil-
ity, for promotingthe responsible use of technoloy, in 1996; a Life-
time Achievement Award from Secure Computingmaazine in 1998;
the Louis Brandeis Award from Privacy International in 1999; and
in 2001, he was inducted into the
CRN Industry Hall of Fame
(see
http://www.crn.com/sections/special/hof/industryHOF Main.asp
). It is cer-
tain that there will be many more such recognitions of his achievements in
the future.
PGP has enjoyed remarkable success and is now widely used over the globe
as a mechanism for secure e-mail transmission and file storage. It is time to see
Figure 8.2: Phil Zimmermann, after the
charges.
Helen Davis, Denver Post, courtesy of
Phil Zimmermann, whose photo was
taken right after the Justice Department
dropped their case against him in 1996.
(He said he was “feelingpretty good”.)
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