Dr. Philip Zimmermann
Dr. Philip Zimmermann is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy, an email encryption tool. Originally designed as a human rights tool, Dr. Zimmermann published PGP for free on the Internet in 1991. This made Phil the target of a three-year criminal investigation, because the government considered that US export restrictions for cryptographic software were violated when PGP spread worldwide. PGP nonetheless became the most widely used email encryption software in the world. After the government dropped its case in early 1996, Phil founded PGP, Inc. Since 2004, Dr. Zimmermann’s focus has been on secure telephony for the Internet, developing the ZRTP protocol and creating products that use it, including Silent Phone and Zfone. Phil is an Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. Dr. Zimmermann was also inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2012; their inaugural year. Phil is Co-founder of Silent Circle, a provider of secure communications services.
