Phil Zimmermann
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- For other uses of "Zimmermann", see Zimmermann (disambiguation)
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Philip Zimmermann (born February 12, 1954) is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most widely used email encryption software in the world. He was the first to make asymmetric, or public key, encryption software easily available to all. This led the US Customs to make him the target of a three-year criminal investigation, because the government held that US export restrictions for cryptographic software were violated when PGP spread all around the world following its 1991 publication on the Internet as freeware. After the government dropped its case without indictment in early 1996, Zimmermann founded PGP Inc. That company was acquired by Network Associates (NAI) in December 1997, where he stayed on for three years as a Senior Fellow. In 2002, PGP was acquired from NAI by a new company called PGP Corporation, which Zimmermann now serves as special advisor and consultant. Zimmermann is also a fellow at the Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.
Zimmermann has received numerous technical and humanitarian awards for his pioneering work in cryptography:
- In 2001 Zimmermann was inducted into the CRN Industry Hall of Fame.
- In 2000 InfoWorld named him one of the Top 10 Innovators in E-business.
- In 1999 he received the Louis Brandeis Award from Privacy International.
- In 1998, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Secure Computing Magazine
- In 1996, he received the Norbert Wiener Award for Social and Professional Responsibility for promoting the responsible use of technology.
- In 1995, he received the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, and the Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- In 1995, Newsweek also named Zimmermann one of the "Net 50", the 50 most influential people on the Internet.
External links
- Philip Zimmermann's homepage (http://www.philzimmermann.com)
- Conversation With Phil Zimmermann (http://grep.law.harvard.edu/article.pl?sid=03/06/06/1441247&mode=nested), Mikael Pawlo, GrepLaw, June 06, 2003.de:Phil Zimmermann
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