Code Is Speech: Amir Taaki on Crypto's Debt to Phil Zimmerman

I recently had the honor of meeting Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP, the world's first freely available encryption software for the masses.

The development of PGP was a socio-political cause when Zimmermann managed to defeat the United States through a subversive mechanism and enshrine code as a form of free speech.

It took an idealist like Zimmermann to have the courage to defy this law because of the conviction that privacy of speech through cryptography was a.fundamental human right.

The U.S. government opened a criminal investigation against Zimmermann.

Why? Zimmermann had heard about another case where Phil Karn had applied to the U.S. State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls for a license to export Bruce Schnier's book Applied Cryptography.

This book includes many code samples for cryptographic algorithms with explanations and is a standard text in the field.

The regulator was puzzled why a book was being applied for a commodity exports license and replied back that there is no restriction on exporting books in the U.S. They didn't even consider the contents of the book, given that books are protected under the First Amendment right to free speech in U.S. Constitution.

He sent the same regulator a floppy disk with files including the same code inside the book.

With that case in mind, Zimmermann told MIT Press that he wanted to publish a second book with the code for PGP. They accepted.

Zimmermann went on to work on several other important cryptography related projects, steering and advising many standards including development of ZRTP which is an important widely used voice encryption system for messaging applications on mobile and desktop.