4 Introduction
As you might guess, the US government considered this
tactic merely a way to get around munitions export restrictions.
Zimmermann and his supporters considered the book speech,
as in “free speech,” “First Amendment,” and “do you really
want to go there?” The government sued, and over the next
three years Zimmermann and the administration went a few
rounds in the courts.
This lawsuit turned Zimmermann into something of a hero
in the computer community. Many people downloaded PGP
just to see what all the fuss was about, and quite a few of them
wound up using it. Zimmermann’s legal defense fund spread
news of the PGP lawsuit even further. In congressional hearings
about encryption, Zimmermann read letters he had received
from people ...