Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation or EFF is a not for profit, internationally run agency that helps to preserve the freedom of speech in today’s digital society. The purpose of the advocacy is based on the First Amendment of the United States constitution which allows for the freedom to speak your mind. The EFF has stated that its main goal is to provide education to the media, policymakers and general consumers about the civil liberties related to the technology that we use today. The agency acts as a defender to those liberties.

In order to protect these liberties, the EFF takes several actions. It provides funds for legal defense in court and defends individuals and any new technologies from legal threats. In addition, this non-profit advocacy offers guidance to governments and courts, organizes political actions and mailings, supports new technologies which passes the agency’s guidelines for preserving personal freedom and maintains a large database and many websites that offer news and information related to its cause. Workers within the agency monitor and challenge any potential legislation that may possibly infringe on the personal liberties and fair use of consumers around the world.

The EFF was founded by Mitch Kapor, John Gilmore and John Perry Barlow in 1990. These three men met online through a community called The Well. The initial funding for the EFF was provided by Mitch Kapor and Steve Wozniak, as well as a portion from an anonymous provider. Mike Godwin joined the agency in 1990 as the first staff counsel and since that time several others have joined in the agency’s goal to protect civil liberties through technology.
The reason that these men created this advocacy was due to a massive search and seizure that was performed on Steve Jackson Games by the United States Secret Service in the early 1990s. similar seizures were also being done across the United States at that time as part of a state/federal task force called the Operation Sundevil. Steve Jackson Games was the first high profile case for the EFF. The second major case for the EFF was when Daniel Bernstein sued the US government for permission to publish an encryption software and the paper which would describe the software. Other cases have been added to the EFF over the years and the offices have moved several times since the first meeting at the residence of Mitch Kapor in Massachusetts. In the early spring of 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that they would open an office in Washington, D.C. and add two new staff attorneys to their roster. Today the EFF is growing stronger and providing help for those who feel that they have been stripped of their civil liberties. The EFF defends and protects a wide number of individuals and corporations from around the world.