The 25th year of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's activism to keep the Internet and its users free was an amazing one.
I work part time for EFF as a contractor, so I'm more plugged in than most people to what the org is doing, but I was still boggled, amazed and delighted by this annual stock-taking of the projects underway on Eddy Street in San Francisco.
Made me so proud I actually misted over.
Twenty-five years ago, EFF took the first steps toward what is now a global movement. We have watched this movement coalesce, uniting people around the world who embrace digital technology and all of its possibilities. We've grown alongside the Internet, taking strategic steps to maintain our role as the anchor of this ever-growing movement. We fight to make sure people have access to the speech platforms and privacy tools that help them take control of their world, innovate and grow, and bring their imaginations to life.
We know, too, that even as technology develops to more deeply enrich our lives, it also increases its potential to restrict our freedoms. EFF's fight is on this front, too: we have your back against overbroad surveillance, against the lockdown of the tools people use to communicate and bring their ideas to fruition, and against other corporate and legal attempts to use technology and law to limit our digital freedoms. In 2015, we busted the podcasting patent and fought for—and won—several key DMCA exemptions, including jailbreaking cell phones and other devices to run third-party software, and repairing and doing security research on your own car. Based in part on our near decade of activism and legal work, Congress also passed the USA Freedom Act, the first real restrictions and oversight imposed on the NSA's surveillance powers since 1978.
