Where did the public key encryption program known as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) originate?
In 1991, Philip R. Zimmerman, a software engineer and cryptographic consultant, put together a public key encryption program he called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) for computer data and e-mail use. PGP at the time used a military-grade 128-bit key. Zimmerman literally gave a small number of programs away for free. Sensing that the government was getting very interested in cryptography, Zimmerman wanted to get free copies of PGP in circulation before a possible government ban on strong encryption tools. One of the people that Zimmerman had given a copy of PGP installed it on a computer attached to the Internet it on a computer attached to the Net the day after Zimmerman’s free release and within days, thousands of people had copies of military-strength PGP. Partially to avoid violating the ITAR and being charged with munitions trafficking (see below), the second upgrade of PGP was made from New Zealand. While ITAR (and later EAR) controls exports passing out of the U.S., it is much more di
