Phil Zimmermann
Author of PGP
Putting strong crypto in ordinary hands, and getting investigated for it
Rating
96Impact score
Domains
Email encryptionCrypto policySecure voice
Scouting report
Released Pretty Good Privacy as free software in 1991, and it escaped onto the internet worldwide. The US government opened a three-year criminal investigation into him for munitions export, dropped it in 1996 without charges, and the crypto-export regime never recovered. He later co-founded Silent Circle and worked on ZRTP for encrypted voice.
Curator’s note
The card for everyone who has ever typed a passphrase to read their own mail.
Portrait
Painted from a photograph of Phil Zimmermann by Phil Zimmermann, uploaded by Matt Crypto, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
Sources
- 01Phil Zimmermann en.wikipedia.org
- 02Pretty Good Privacy en.wikipedia.org