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Interim Response from Philip Zimmermann
Overreaction to Washington Post ArticleIt seems that my recent clarification of how I was represented in the 21 September Washington Post article has itself created a deluge of harsh criticism of the Washington Post and the reporter who wrote the article.
People seem to be assuming the Washington Post is part of some grand conspiracy to restrict the availability of strong cryptography. I would like to say that this is an overreaction and a misinterpretation on the part of these critics.
I believe this was an honest misunderstanding by the people at the Post, and I never meant to imply in my previous clarification that this was done on purpose or with any malicious intent. On the contrary, I believe the Post worked hard to be fair in the story and had the best of intentions when they ran it.
Further, I'd like to say that all the individual facts and quotes were reported correctly. But the Post connected the dots in a slightly different way to conclude that I was feeling guilty even though I was simply feeling grief and anger just like everyone else since the attacks occurred. Overall, I thought the article was fine except for that one line that says I was "overwhelmed with guilt."
My purpose for sending out my original clarification was not to criticize the Post but to assure everyone that I am still standing firm on my convictions that PGP and other strong encryption products should be available to the public, with no back doors.
Through the years of coverage the Post has given the issue of cryptography restrictions, I have never detected any bias at the Post to promote restrictions on crypto. In fact, if they have any bias at all, it seems to be in the other direction. They helped me when I needed to keep the Justice Department at bay in 1995. We will need them again in the coming weeks as we in the crypto community attempt to keep the freedoms we have, as legislators try to impose new restrictions on strong crypto.
I find this jihad of criticism of the Post to be inappropriate. I can easily tell from talking with the reporter that her intentions were good. It is grossly unfair to punish her with all this hate mail. It's embarrassing to me and damaging to her. If anyone in the world of journalism wants any further clarification from me on that reporter's competence or journalistic integrity, feel free to call me directly and I will explain it to you in more detail.
I am in London at a data security conference, without as much Internet access as I have at home, so I cannot keep writing about this matter for much longer. I hope this letter is enough to put this matter to rest.
Sincerely,
Philip Zimmermann-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 7.0.3iQA/AwUBO7ILqcdGNjmy13leEQLryACfffYuStFXNTC0aWnJStMEAWsbQSgAn0ID d2bqoxnEbABk+1V/edlzC84A =uBHG
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
first post
I guess Taco's happy, as they were his closest competitor.
+1 funny
break any window. killa cop.
puncture all tires. litter
sloburbia. open hydrants. burn
bldgs. scatter nails. glue
locks. dose h20. clip phones.
plant indo. graffititall. t.p.
streamers. cyanide the vents.
burn down bldgs. cancel
technokratz. destroy private
props. kill the rich. disrupt
public service. send bomb
threats. create panda moanium.
spread rumors. break clocks.
smash tvs. sabothe gears.
d e s t r o y a l l s y s t e m s.
pullallalarms. pranks. tricks.
splatter billboards. sink ships.
clog drains. turn itall off.
shutitall down. busta meter.
j a m it. runamok. tiltit.
Oh spare me the cod patroit speech. Were these
the same patriots who systematically murdered
native americans and stole their lands??
As for liberties you clearly have no concept of
the balance that must be struck between civil
liberties and effective policing but then you're
probably just another dumb teenage who wants to
stick it to anyone over 19 (ie all the government). Grow up.
what's your point? Hate is great, let's all slam each other?
"Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity"
I think it applies here somehow, and just asking for a clarification it the least one can do. When you have it, if it doesn't fit, voice all you can, in a civilized way without going personnal. I'm pretty sure the reporter received "you bitch" emails. You think THAT is deserved? Maybe "you incompetent", but not that.
We already have oxygen and entropy to fight against, we don't need "spontaneous-hate-mass-reactions-without-having-r
Well, duh! It's all America's fault. We should pull out of Saudi Arabia and make reparations towards the Palestinians.
Then those nice Muslims will leave us alone and stop killing our civilians...
Won't they?
i fart in your general direction
Very common for Native Americans to exercise ritual torture on all settlers they captured. Comanche, Apache, many others. Lots of folks saw the hacked up and burnt remains of their children and started getting pissed off.
Goatse has come out of mourning.
I guess that makes genocide ok then.
Incidentaly is that what the crime of the black
slaves the "patroits" exploited was to deserve
their lives of misery?
I really wish you were in WTC that day instead of all those innocent people that died. Atleast you'd a reason!
Perhaps the natives wouldn't have got so pissed off if a bunch of europeans hadn't sailed along and tried to take their land. If the settlers couldn't get it by bartering they had a habit
of just taking it by force. I'd love to see what
you'd do if a bunch of strangers showed up and settled in your back yard and claimed it as their own.
having suspicion towards anyone is a bless. it's your only way of making things better. keeps you smart, and awake (as opposed to rest in peace, if you know what i mean).
when you say about blood of patriots died you mean my relatives that died in order to let you think freely and have the right to dare to suspect whomever you want (nomatter his job or state/position) or you mean yours (in that case i hope you know what they died for, and you'll explain us)?
No bullshit. Islamic Terrorists go on a murderous gun rampage in Switzerland. 14 dead already.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/news id_1566000/1566321.stm
LOL! Very funny stuff. Thanks for brightening my day.
Islamic extremists have hijacked a packed passenger train in Germany, and forced it to crash into another train. Germany have recently gone on record as supporting the International Coalition against Terrorism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/news id_1566000/1566100.stm
When will the madness end?
What does Zimmermann expect? This is the Web site that thinks it's okay to steal when someone else has stolen from you first.
Short sentences.
Spaced far apart.
They make you cool.
It's true.
Ok, Quisling, try THIS sum:
Number of USEFUL people killed on September 11th: 5000+ (Assuming about 1000 WTC employees were Immigrants working in public utilities)
Number of USEFUL cattle culled by the US in all these filthy disease ridden countries: 0
+5, Informative
Now that's positive, affirmative action.
But it's only the Fascist Muslims that kick up a fuss every time one of their precious words is spoken from infidel mouths.
Allah is a Child Molestor. Simple as that. Want to drop a plane on MY house, you welfare scrounging cripple?
"Do it to Julia!"
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.