UK newspaper names Zimmermann a "neo-Nazi sympathiser"

From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@well.com>
Subject: Re: UK newspaper names Zimmermann a "neo-Nazi sympathiser"
To: Declan McCullagh
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 18:13:11 -0800 (PST)
Cc: fight-censorship+@andrew.cmu.edu

 
Zimmermann stands to recover a lot if he sues the Telegraph under British
libel laws.


--Mike

[...]

> 
>  Subject: "PRZ a nazi" to be retracted
>  To: cypherpunks@toad.com (Cypherpunks)
>  Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 21:58:48 -0700 (MST)
>  Cc: prz@acm.org (Philip Zimmermann)
>  From: Philip Zimmermann <prz@acm.org>
>  Reply-To: Philip Zimmermann <prz@acm.org>
>  X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22]
>  Content-Type: text
>  Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com
>  Precedence: bulk
>  
>  The Sunday Telegraph of London printed a story last Sunday about neo-nazis
>  using PGP to encrypt their communications.  The story said that PGP was
>  devised by an American neo-nazi sympathizer.  As the creator of PGP, and
>  a human rights activist, I was outraged by such a defamation from a major
>  newspaper.  I called my lawyer Phil Dubois, who seemed to look forward to
>  having some fun with this newspaper.
>  
>  Not wanting to wait around till the morning, and slow lawyers, I called
>  Robin Gedye, the reporter in Bonn who wrote the story, at 7am Monday morning
>  Bonn time, and woke him up at home.  I introduced myself and told him how I
>  felt about it.  He had never heard of me, the Clipper chip, the
controversies
>  of cryptography, and knew nothing about PGP outside of the couple of
>  sentences in his story that mentioned PGP.  He said it wasn't really so bad,
>  because he didn't specifically identify me by name.  One can imagine the
>  effectiveness of that excuse with me.  I then went into some detail with him
>  to bring him up to speed.  I also called his editor in London, who also had
>  never heard of me or PGP.
>  
>  After some checking, they discovered that the Daily Telegraph, a related
>  newspaper, had run an article about my case just a week before.  They also
>  found about 20 recent articles on me in the UK press.  The editor said that
>  my story "checks out".  It was good to know that they now believed that I
>  was not a neo-nazi after all.
>  
>  Anyway, Mr. Gedye says that the Sunday Telegraph will print a retraction
>  next Sunday.  Not just a little retraction, but a whole article on the
>  subject, written by Mr. Gedye himself.  I'm glad to see that this probably
>  means that he will dig into the subject more, in order to write such an
>  article.
>  
>  I guess this means maybe I'll find some other things to occupy Phil Dubois's
>  time.
>  
>    -Philip Zimmermann
>     23 Jan 96
> 
> 
> // declan@eff.org // My opinions are not in any way those of the EFF //
> 
>

Declan McCullagh kindly forwarded Mike Godwin's comments thusly:
> 
> From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic@well.com>
> Subject: Re: UK newspaper names Zimmermann a "neo-Nazi sympathiser"
> To: Declan McCullagh
> Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 18:13:11 -0800 (PST)
> Cc: fight-censorship+@andrew.cmu.edu
> 
>  
> Zimmermann stands to recover a lot if he sues the Telegraph under British
> libel laws.
> 
> 
> --Mike
> 
> [...]

Er no, in practice it is hard to persue a libel case in the UK where the
publication has responded immediately with a printed apology - especially
if the apology is prominently placed.  The mail catenated to Godwin's
comments (from PRZ himself) indicates that the Sunday Telegraph will be
publishing such an apology in their next edition.  An out of court 
settlement, apart from lawyers costs, may yield a charitable donation but
it certainly looks like PRZ will benefit from a sympathetic article 
which seems to me to be a pretty good result!


Cheers,
--
Anthony Naggs	- Computer Security & Anti-Virus Engineer, CSIR, South Africa
Disclaimer: these are my personal views and opinions, and do not represent
	my employers; past, present or future.

Hi!

Can someone out there send me a copy of the ST article on Zimmermann?  
I'm currently too busy with marking to bother buying newspapers.

Many thanks,

Sean Gabb,
Editor
Free Life.

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