Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994 TAG: 9408020098
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOULDER, COLO. LENGTH: Medium
To some civil libertarians, Phillip Zimmerman is a hero. To the government, he is a suspect. To one corporation, he is a flouter of patents.
It is possible, in fact, that this self-employed computer software consultant is all these things; on the Information Highway, the distinctions blur. What is clear is that Zimmerman is in trouble.
This is what Zimmerman did:
He developed a program - Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP - which encrypts electronic files in a virtually unbreakable code. He gave PGP to a friend. The friend made it available on the worldwide network of computer systems.
As a result, he has been targeted in a federal criminal investigation to determine whether he violated a law prohibiting the export of encryption software. And he has run afoul of RSA Data Security Inc., which owns a patent on the mathematical algorithm used in PGP.
But among civil libertarians, Zimmerman has achieved a kind of cult-hero status in the growing debate over electronic privacy issues.
``Two hundred years ago when they wrote the Constitution, they never thought it was necessary to put a special amendment in the Bill of Rights for the right to have a private conversation. You would just go out behind the barn and talk,'' Zimmerman said.
``But today, you have copper wires and glass fibers carrying our conversations. So, do we want to sacrifice our privacy because of that? Our civil liberties are eroding because of the Information Age. Cryptography will bring them back.''
There are hundreds of computer software programs like PGP that encrypt communications. But law enforcement authorities say encryption prevents police from monitoring illegal activities, from drug networks to terrorism.
One solution to the police dilemma is the Clinton administration's proposed ``clipper chip.'' It would scramble computer or telephone communications, but the government would retain a set of decoding keys to enable court-approved electronic surveillance. Manufacturers would be asked to voluntarily install the chip in their products.
Civil libertarians and most computer industry officials oppose Clinton's proposal, and Vice President Al Gore has indicated that the administration is willing to compromise. Without secure encryption, Zimmerman says, the government could theoretically set up computers to scan networks for subversive words - sort of a high-tech ``driftnet fishing.''
For now, the ``clipper chip'' is just a proposal. And the federal government is trying to rein in programs like PGP - an effort akin to picking up a bead of mercury with your bare fingers.
Zimmerman points out that PGP could be legally exported overseas if it were published in a book instead of sent electronically.
``It's like dandelion seeds blowing in the wind; you can't contain biology and you can't contain information,'' he said.
by CNB