Peter D. Junger (1933 – November 2006) was a computer law professor and Internet activist, most famous for having fought against the U.S. government's regulations of and export controls on encryption software. The case, '' Junger v. Daley'' (6th Cir. 2000), held that computer

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the ...

is protected by the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

. The US government prohibited publication of

encryption software Encryption software is software that uses cryptography to prevent unauthorized access to digital information. Cryptography is used to protect digital information on computers as well as the digital information that is sent to other computers over t ...

on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, arguing that encryption software was a " munition" subject to

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

controls. Junger filed suit in 1996 challenging the regulations. Junger also did significant legal theoretical work on the interplay between intellectual property, computer law, and the First Amendment. He defined himself as a "First Amendment absolutist."

Biography

Junger grew up in Wyoming, graduating from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 1955 and Harvard Law School in 1958. From January 1959 to December 1960 he was an enlisted man in the U.S. Army serving in West Germany. After practicing law from 1961 to 1970, he accepted a faculty position at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law. He retired and was Professor of Law Emeritus in 2001. Junger was also a practicing

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, president of his local Buddhist Temple from 2003 to 2006. Peter Junger died in November, 2006, at the age of 73 at his home in Cleveland. He was survived by his mother, Genevieve Junger (born 1901).

References and notes

External links

Peter D. Junger's website

Peter Junger's blog
("Samsara's Blog") 1933 births 2006 deaths Free speech activists Internet activists Computer law scholars Computer law activists Cryptography law Cypherpunks First Amendment scholars Harvard University alumni American legal scholars Harvard Law School alumni Case Western Reserve University faculty {{compu-scientist-stub