- Phil Zimmermann
Philip R. "Phil" Zimmermann Jr. (born
February 12 ,1954 ) is the creator ofPretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most widely usedemail encryption software in the worldFact|date=September 2007. He is also known for his work inVoIP encryption protocols, notablyZRTP andZfone .He was born in
Camden, New Jersey . His father was a concrete mixer truck driver. Zimmermann received a B.S. degree in computer science fromFlorida Atlantic University inBoca Raton in 1978, and currently lives in theSan Francisco Bay Area .He was one of the first to make asymmetric, or
public key , encryption software readily available to the general public. He released the source code to PGP, and shortly thereafter, it became available overseas via the Internet, though Zimmermann has said he had no part in its distribution outside the US. After a report fromRSA Data Security, Inc. , who were in a licensing dispute with regard to use of the RSA algorithm in PGP, the Customs Service started a criminal investigation of Zimmermann, for allegedly violating theArms Export Control Act . The US Government had long regarded cryptographic software as a munition, and thus subject to arms trafficking export controls. At that time, the boundary between permitted ("low strength") cryptography and impermissible ("high strength") cryptography placed PGP well on the too-strong-to-export side (this boundary has since been relaxed). The investigation lasted three years, but was finally dropped without filing charges.After the government dropped its case without indictment in early 1996, Zimmermann founded PGP Inc. and released an updated version of PGP and some additional related products. That company was acquired by
Network Associates (NAI) in December1997 , and Zimmermann stayed on for three years as a Senior Fellow. NAI decided to drop the product line and in2002 , PGP was acquired from NAI by a new company calledPGP Corporation . Zimmermann now serves as a special advisor and consultant to that firm. Zimmermann is also a fellow at the Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. He was a principal designer of the cryptographic key agreement protocol (the "association model") for theWireless USB standard.In the very first version of PGP, an encryption algorithm was given the humorous name
BassOmatic (after a skit onSaturday Night Live ) and Pretty Good Privacy itself is named after aLake Wobegon fictional grocery store named "Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery".In popular culture
Zimmermann's name appears in the
novel "The Da Vinci Code ":Awards
Zimmermann has received numerous technical and humanitarian awards for his pioneering work in
cryptography :* In
2008 , PC World named Zimmermann one of the ' [http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,145290-page,1-c,technology/article.html Top 50 Tech Visionaries' of the last 50 years] .
* In2006 eWeek ranked PGP 9th in the [http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Past-News/The-25-Most-Influential-Products-of-the-Past-25-Years/ 25 Most Influential and Innovative Products introduced since the invention of the PC in 1981] .
* In2003 Reason named him a "Hero of Freedom " [ [http://www.reason.com/news/show/28959.html "35 Heroes of Freedom"] "Reason", December 2003 RetrievedApril 10 ,2007 ]
* In2001 Zimmermann was inducted into the [http://www.crn.com/sections/special/hof/hof01.asp?ArticleID=31279 CRN Industry Hall of Fame] .
* In2000 InfoWorld named him one of the ' [http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/00/10/09/001009hnpz.xml Top 10 Innovators in E-business'] .
* In1999 he received theLouis Brandeis Award fromPrivacy International .
* In1998 , he received a Lifetime Achievement Award fromSecure Computing Magazine
* In1996 , he received theNorbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility for promoting the responsible use oftechnology .
* In1995 , he received theChrysler Design Award for Innovation, and thePioneer Award from theElectronic Frontier Foundation .
* In1995 ,Newsweek also named Zimmermann one of the "Net 50", the 50 most influential people on theInternet .Publications
The Official PGP User's Guide, MIT Press, 1995cite book |last= Zimmermann |first= Philip |authorlink= Philip Zimmermann |title= The Official PGP User's Guide |date=
1995 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn= 0-262-74017-6]PGP Source Code and Internals, MIT Press, 1995cite book |last= Zimmermann |first= Philip |authorlink= Philip Zimmermann |title= PGP Source Code and Internals |date=
1995 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn= 0-262-24039-4]ee also
*
Pretty Good Privacy
*ZRTP
*Zfone
*PGPfone
*PGP word list
* GPGGNU Privacy Guard
*Information security
*Data privacy
*Information privacy References
External links
* [http://www.philzimmermann.com Official website]
* [http://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/essays/WhyIWrotePGP.html Why I wrote PGP.]
* [http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=03/06/06/1441247&mode=nested Conversation With Phil Zimmermann] , Mikael Pawlo, GrepLaw,June 06 ,2003 .
* [http://news.cnet.com/E-mail-security-hero-takes-on-VoIP/2100-7352_3-6105589.html?tag=nefd.top E-mail security hero takes on VoIP] , Declan McCullagh , C|net, 15 Aug 2006.
* [http://www.vonmag-digital.com/vonmag/200701/ VON Pioneers: Philip Zimmermann Encrypts VoIP] , VON Magazine, Jan 2007.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.