Way back in 1993, the Internet was a very different place. SSL would not be released for another two years; it would take some time after that until it was used commonly. The Clipper Chip project had just been announced, threatening to offer an explicit, physical back door to all electronic communications devices for the US Justice Department and anyone with a basic understanding of computer science. In 1993, Encryption was a weapon . Washington viewed encryption's only function as a wartime tool to protect military and intelligence communications. The notion that encryption could or should be used as a foundation of protecting online commerce and banking simply did not occur to Big Brother. Into this situation came Phil Zimmerman. Phil had designed and programmed an encryption application called Pretty Good Privacy in 1991. Before that time, cryptography tools were almost entirely the purview of those with the biggest of Smarty Pants: mathematicians, logicians, researchers, ...