Privacy

Zimmermann Legal Defense

Who Are We?

Rogues Gallery

We Win!

Original Appeal

Yellow Ribbon

Funding USA

Funding Europe

Correspondence

Liason Editorial

CypherPunks

Pretty Good Privacy

These are the people you'll meet in our twisted little neighborhood, through the U. S. Attorney's looking glass.

The Defendant

Phil Zimmermann

Phil Zimmermann, known "Zimmermann" or "PRZ" (pronounced "pee are zee"), is the author of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), a software implementation of the Rivest, Shamir, Adelman (RSA) cryptosystem. I took this photograph the first time I met PRZ; we were both attending a Silicon Valley meeting of the CypherPunks. A passionate believer in personal freedom, privacy, and the nuclear freeze movement, PRZ taught classes in military policy, and has been in jail with Daniel Ellsberg and Carl Sagan. Speaks college-level Russian. Derives great strength from his family: his wife Ophelia, his children Guildenstern and rosencrantz, and his dog Hamlet. (Names changed to protect the media-shy.)

Note please that Philip's name has two 'm's and two 'n's. The media often misspell it. (More about PRZ is here.)

The Defense Team

The Defense consisted of Phil Dubois (shown at right), Curt Karnow, Tom Nolan, Eben Moglen, Ken Bass, and Joe Burton. Dubois heads PRZ's legal defense team, a group of attorneys and specialists in related fields (such as export, computer security, patent law, etc.). Some of the work is done pro bono, but other work isn't, and requires funding.)

Phil Dubois

PRZ's lead attorney, known as "Dubois" (pronounced "dew bwah"), is a good-humored quiet man. Dubois speaks frighteningly good Japanese, is rarely seen without his trusty Stetson cowboy hat, and loves smoking a good cigar. He stayed at my flat on Waller Street several times during his visits from Denver, when he had to beard the lion in the den (the U. S. Attorney's Office in San Jose, California). (His cirriculum vitae is here.)

From time to time (but never frequently enough) Dubois sends me materials relating to the case that are intended for the general public to view. There was always too little, because Kafka (err, I mean Keane) kept Dubois and Company busy. Dubois' correspondence about the case is interesting.

Curt Karnow

Curt Karnow is a Cantonese-speaking intellectual property attorney hailing from Marin County, just north of San Francisco, California. (His cirriculum vitae is here.)

Ken Bass

Ken Bass is the cryptographer's export attorney of choice. He's based in Washington, D. C.

Other foot-soldiers in the battle...

There are far too many people involved with the Zimmermann Legal Defense Fund and the actual defense effort to list here, even if it was possible to list them all. Here are but a few notables.

Peter Simons founded the ZLDF/Europe, an effort that has a great track-record of raising money for the cause.

Hugh Miller, of Loyola University, wrote the original ZLDF Appeal for support. It's good reading and does a great job of giving a history of PRZ's plight.

Nathaniel S. Borenstein, of First Virtual, write the "ZLDF Virtual Yellow Ribbon" appeal, which garnered a great deal of support across the net.

The Prosecution

Bill Keane

Bill Keane, the United States Attorney (based out of San Jose, California), was the officer of the court that ran the case against Phil Zimmermann.