In 1991, a programmer named Phil Zimmermann released an encryption program called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). But cryptography, because it overlapped with national security, was considered a form of munitions in the United States. If cryptographic code crossed the borders to another country, it was treated as a munitions export. Early open source cryptographers, like those writing OpenSSL, had to become licensed arms dealers to be able to write and “export” (i.e., distribute) their code. As a result, Zimmermann found himself under criminal investigation by the United States government for
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