Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit advocacy and legal organization based in the United States with the stated purpose of being dedicated to preserving the right to freedom of speech, such as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, in the context of today's digital age (see also digital rights). Its stated main goal is to educate the press, policymakers and the general public about civil liberties issues related to technology; and to act as a defender of those liberties. The EFF is supported by donations and is based in San Francisco, California, with staff members in Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Brussels,^[1] the seat of the European Union. They are also accredited observers at the World Intellectual Property Organization.^[2]

EFF has taken action in several ways; it provides or funds legal defense in court, defends individuals and new technologies from the chilling effects of what it considers baseless or misdirected legal threats, provides guidance to the government and courts, organizes political action and mass mailings, supports some new technologies which it believes preserve personal freedoms, maintains a database and web sites of related news and information, monitors and challenges potential legislation that it believes would infringe on personal liberties and fair use, and solicits a list of what it considers patent abuses with intentions to defeat those that it considers without merit.

History

For more details on this topic, see Timeline of Electronic Frontier Foundation actions.

Mitch Kapor

John Gilmore

John Perry Barlow

Electronic Frontier Foundation founders Kapor, Gilmore and Barlow.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation was founded in July 1990 by Mitch Kapor, John Gilmore and John Perry Barlow. The founders met through the online community at The WELL. Initial funding was provided by Kapor, Steve Wozniak, and an anonymous benefactor.^[3][4] In 1990 Mike Godwin joined the organization as the first staff counsel. Then in 1991 Esther Dyson and Jerry Berman join EFF Board. By 1992 Cliff Figallo became the new director of EFF-Cambridge and in December 1992 Jerry Berman became Acting Executive Director.

The creation of the organization was motivated by the massive search and seizure on Steve Jackson Games executed by the United States Secret Service early in 1990. Similar but officially unconnected law-enforcement raids were being conducted across the United States at about that time as part of a state-federal task force called Operation Sundevil. However, the Steve Jackson Games case, which became EFF's first high-profile case, was the major rallying point where EFF began promoting computer- and Internet-related civil liberties. In 1993: Offices moved to 1001 G Street office in Washington, D.C.. That same year Big Dummy's guide to the Internet, an Electronic Frontier Foundation publication, was made available for free download.

EFF's second big case was Bernstein v. United States led by Cindy Cohn, where programmer and professor Daniel J. Bernstein sued the government for permission to publish his encryption software, Snuffle, and a paper describing it. More recently the organization has been involved in defending Edward Felten, Jon Lech Johansen and Dmitry Sklyarov.

The organization was originally located at Mitch Kapor's K.E.I.^[5] in Cambridge, Massachusetts. By the fall of 1993, the main EFF offices were housed in Washington, D.C., headed up by Jerry Berman. During this time, some of EFF's attention focused on the business of influencing national policy, a business that was not entirely palatable to parts of the organization. In 1994, Mr. Berman parted ways with EFF and formed the Center for Democracy and Technology. EFF moved offices across town, where Drew Taubman briefly took the reins as director. In 1995, under the auspices of director Lori Fena, after some downsizing and in an effort to regroup and refocus on their base support, the organization moved offices to San Francisco, California. There, it took up temporary residence at John Gilmore's Toad Hall, and soon afterward moved into the Hamm's building at 1550 Bryant St. After Fena moved onto the EFF board of directors for a while, the organization was led by Tara Lemmey. Just prior to the EFF's move into its new and present offices at 454 Shotwell St. in SF's Mission District, long-time EFF Legal Director Shari Steele became, and remains as of mid-2006, the Executive Director. In the spring of 2006, EFF announced the opening of an office in Washington, D.C. with two new staff attorneys.^[6]

Support

The foundation receives support from its board members Brad Templeton (Chairman), John Perry Barlow, John Buckman, Lorrie Cranor, David J. Farber, Edward Felten, John Gilmore, Brewster Kahle, Joe Kraus and Pamela Samuelson. Lawrence Lessig, Stanford professor and former EFF boardmember,^[7] is another major supporter. The organisation often receives additional pro bono legal assistance from Prof. Eben Moglen.

On February 18, 2004, the EFF announced that it had received $1.2 million from the estate of Leonard Zubkoff.^[8] It will use $1 million of this money to establish the EFF Endowment Fund for Digital Civil Liberties.

Charity Navigator has given EFF four out of four stars for its financial efficiency and capacity.^[9]

See also

• Apple v. Does
• Digital rights
• Electronic Frontiers Australia
• Electronic Frontier Canada
• Free Software Foundation
• GNU Project
• Hepting v. AT&T
• Information freedom
• Internet censorship
• League for Programming Freedom
• Open Rights Group UK group
• Switzerland (software)

References

Further reading

• Gelman, Robert B.; Stanton McCandlish (1998). Protecting Yourself Online: The Definitive Resource on Safety, Freedom & Privacy in Cyberspace. New York: HarperEdge. ISBN 0062515128. 
• Godwin, Mike (2003). Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 0262571684. 
• Sterling, Bruce (1993). The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier. London: Bantam. ISBN 055356370X. 

(Covers Operation Sundevil and the formation of the EFF in great detail, including profiles of Mitch Kapor and John Perry Barlow)

External links

• Electronic Frontier Foundation official site
• "Technopolitics", originally published in the Australian magazine 21C, tells the early history of EFF.

Publications

• EFFector
• Legal Guide for Bloggers