A Modern Day Odysseus
"I wanted to strengthen democracy, to ensure that Americans could
protect their privacy." Philip R. Zimmermann, a modern day hero, started
with one powerful goal - to create easy to use, publicly available e-mail
encryption software. With patience, strong will, and the idea that privacy
is a right of the people, he did just that, and in doing so held up a
mirror to the world, showing it that it had permanently changed. The life
of Phil Zimmermann is full of epic grandeur, and undoubtedly forms a modern
day parallel to the hero Odysseus of Homer's The Odyssey.
A basic quality that almost all heroes must have, including both
Odysseus and Phil Zimmermann, is a mind of good intentions. ...
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one of the most powerful steps towards greater civil liberty, specifically,
"Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)," which enabled the unbreakable encryption of e-
mail. In other words, he extended to people the right to free speech that
no one, not even the government, can listen to. Before PGP, the United
States government had spied on people through simply steaming open
envelopes and recording phone conversations. Not only that, but e-mail was,
and still is to this day, notoriously simple to intercept. With a set of
good intentions, Phil Zimmermann changed all this by coding powerful
software and giving it away for free.
In order to achieve their goals, heroes generally have a high level
of ability. Odysseus was one of the Greek's greatest warriors, and, in
fighting the Trojan army, single-handedly defeated many other men. He
possessed not only great physical strength and skill but also a good mental
ability. Some Gods trusted him because he was a thinking man, and ...
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disdain. Phil Zimmermann encountered just
that - a sharp resistance. This resistance was primarily created by the
United States government. Being that encryption would be valuable to other
countries with malicious intent, the US has attempted to regulate
encryption by making it illegal for export. Unfortunately for the
government, it is absolutely impossible to prevent the electronic
distribution of information. Still, the law made this attempt. Zimmermann
was in court for 3 years, arrested as an illegal munitions exporter for
posting his software on the internet. Fortunately for Zimmermann and his
cause, patience and strong will gave way and the case was finally dropped
without any ...
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A Modern Day Odysseus. (2007, June 28). Retrieved April 16, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Modern-Day-Odysseus/67137
"A Modern Day Odysseus." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 28 Jun. 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Modern-Day-Odysseus/67137>
"A Modern Day Odysseus." Essayworld.com. June 28, 2007. Accessed April 16, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Modern-Day-Odysseus/67137.
"A Modern Day Odysseus." Essayworld.com. June 28, 2007. Accessed April 16, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/A-Modern-Day-Odysseus/67137.
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