FIPR Press Release - PGP creator Phil Zimmermann joins FIPR

FOR IMMEDIATE USE : 11 September 2002

The Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) is delighted to announce today that Phil Zimmermann is joining its Advisory Council.

Phil Zimmermann is best known as the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the first email encryption program to achieve widespread usage. It was shipped as freeware in 1991, rapidly spread around the world, and still remains the most widely used software for ensuring that email can only be read by its intended recipient.

Phil Zimmermann received numerous awards from civil liberties and professional groups, but the US government was less than pleased that their stranglehold on cryptography had been broken, and for three years Phil was hounded by their lawyers for exporting an encryption program from the US.

The threat of prosecution was lifted in 1996 and nowadays exporting encryption software is relatively simple. However, cryptography continues at the centre of many issues of technology policy, ranging from the powers sought by law enforcement agencies since 9/11 to force telecomms companies to retain customer data, to the debates about copyright and digital rights management. As one of the world's most famous cryptographers, Phil will bring invaluable experience and contacts to FIPR.

Speaking from Menlo Park, California, Phil Zimmermann said: "I've always felt that efforts to preserve civil liberties must be pressed on both sides of the pond to be effective. I think our own government in the US found it harder to hang on to the crypto export controls after we made progress in the French and British domestic policies. Now we face tougher challenges, and we must face them together. That's why I'm happy to help with FIPR."

Said Ross Anderson, the Chair of FIPR: "We are delighted that Phil is joining us. He has long been an inspiration to the IT policy community in the UK and Europe, and the precedents he set in the USA have helped us hugely in winning similar battles here."

Said Ian Brown, the Director of FIPR: "Phil's PGP software and his battle with the US government was my and many others' introduction to the whole field of technology policy, so I am delighted that he has agreed to join FIPR's Advisory Council."

Ian Brown continued: "Now that cryptography policy issues are becoming ever more complex - with TCPA and Palladium creating fresh tensions between privacy and corporate interests - Phil's experience and insights will be invaluable in helping us identify and analyse the problems that new technology brings in its wake."

Contacts for enquiries:

Notes for editors

1. The Foundation for Information Policy Research (www.fipr.org), is a non-profit think-tank for Internet and Information Technology policy, governed by an independent Board of Trustees with an Advisory Council of experts.
2. FIPR studies the interaction between information technology and society. Its goal is to identify technical developments with significant social impact, commission research into public policy alternatives, and promote public understanding and dialogue between technologists and policy-makers in the UK and Europe.
   
   Among its significant policy achievements have been:
   • educating legislators on the complexities of cryptography policy, which led to significant changes in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act 2000, and
   • lobbying to prevent export control laws being used to stifle scientific research, as they were used against Phil Zimmermann in his famous case in the USA. This led to the research exemption being included in the Export Act 2002.

     See: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/exportbill.html

3. During the mid-1990s, there were many battles between government intelligence agencies (who wanted cryptography to remain a secret technology under the control of states) and advocates of liberty, who believed that it should be available as a tool to all.
   
   Crypto turned out to be so useful that it became incorporated into all sorts of devices - cash machines, electricity meters, car door locks, and even children's toys. By now, it has become as pervasive as nuts and bolts - indeed crypto protocols are the nuts and bolts by which distributed computer systems are fastened together.
   
   Attempts to control crypto have proved futile and the agencies have pretty much given up trying. However, some of the policies adopted during these struggles are still causing problems, for governments, for industry and for civil society.

   See: http://www.fipr.org/rip/

4. PGP and further systems based upon it remain freely available for all to use:

   See: http://www.pgpi.org/ and http://www.gnupg.org/

5. More details about Phil Zimmermann can be found at:

   http://www.philzimmermann.com/