Phil Zimmermann, the creator of the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) email encryption program, has joined tech-policy think-tank the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR).

Zimmermann's brushes with the US legal system apparently made him the ideal candidate for a post on the FIPR advisory board.

His creation of the freeware PGP tool in 1991 sparked a storm of controversy when it attracted the attention of the US government.

He was hounded for three years for exporting the encryption software, which was then classed as 'munitions'.

His eventual victory and breaking of the government's hold on cryptography made him a civil liberties hero among the geek community.

PGP was bought by security firm Network Associates, but was axed earlier this year after the company failed to sell it on.

Zimmermann then moved over to Hush Communications, which runs the well known HushMail secure email service, where he helped to move the encryption system over to OpenPGP, an open source variant of the technology.

Ian Brown, director of FIPR, said: "Phil's PGP software and his battle with the US government was my and many others introduction to the whole field of technology policy.

"Now that cryptography policy issues are becoming ever more complex, with the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance and Palladium creating fresh tensions between privacy and corporate interests, Phil's experience and insights will be invaluable in helping us identify and analyse the problems that new technology brings in its wake."

Zimmermann added: "I've always felt that efforts to preserve civil liberties must be pressed on both sides of the pond to be effective.

"I think our own government in the US found it harder to hang on to the crypto export controls after we made progress in the French and British domestic policies. Now we face tougher challenges, and we must face them together."