By 1994, even I recognized the importance of PGP to all freedom-loving peoples. In my youthful exuberance, I was enraged that Zimmermann, who I had personally e-mailed a few times, was being accused of being an American traitor. I came up with a scheme, that upon reflection, was either incredibly ballsy or can only be attributed to adolescent arrogance. My plan was to intentionally violate the U.S. federal statues against distributing encryption programs to foreign governments. This was a charge that Mr. Zimmermann had craftily and legally avoided for good reason.
I was going to create a Web site that would allow any visitor to easily send a copy of PGP to a random foreign e-mail address recipient with a carbon copy of the transfer automatically sent to the White House, along with a protest letter. My idea was to get millions of visitors to violate our "stupid" software encryption laws on purpose and see how the U.S. Justice Department could handle a million violations. My fantasy included the government realizing how ignorant it was, forcing it to change the laws, and to drop the charges against Zimmermann.
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Pretty bad protest
This wasn't just a silent fantasy. I had created the bare bones of the Web site and contacted Newsweek magazine. I had been profiled in a March 1992 issue regarding the popular Michelangelo virus and the newly emerging Dark Avenger's polymorphic virus mutation engine, and I'd established friendly inside contacts. The magazine's computer and science associate editor loved my idea and promised to give it coverage.
I even understood the potential legal consequences of my actions. I knew I could end up in jail or, at the very least, wasting a lot of money in my defense. I had told my new wife and mother of my first daughter of my idea and the possible consequences. As you can imagine, she was not very supportive of my risking my good job, our house, and our comfortable life. But I was that emotionally driven. At the time I was fond of quoting, "You can take my right to privacy out of my cold, dead hands!" This from a guy who's never held a gun.
Although the exact details are a bit hazy now, I remember nervously dialing Zimmermann for the first time, with the Newsweek editor listening in. I knew getting Zimmermann's support would lock in the magazine's commitment and get me the publicity I would need to get large numbers of visitors willing to join me in my privacy fight.
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