A Modern Day Odysseus "I wanted to strengthen democracy, to ensure that Americans could protect their privacy." Philip R. Zimmermann, a modern day hero, started with one powerful goal - to create easy to use, publicly available e-mail encryption software. With patience, strong will, and the idea that privacy is a right of the people, he did just that, and in doing so held up a mirror to the world, showing it that it had permanently changed. The life of Phil Zimmermann is full of epic grandeur, and undoubtedly forms a modern day parallel to the hero Odysseus of Homer's The Odyssey. A basic quality that almost all heroes must have, including both Odysseus and Phil Zimmermann