The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world.

A WORD FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Cindy Cohn

At EFF, we believe that together we can create a future where our rights not only follow us online but are even enhanced by new technology. The activists, lawyers, and technologists on EFF’s staff fight every day for a better future and against the kinds of dystopias best left to speculative fiction.

By the Numbers

17

Legal and Legislative Victories

78

Press Mentions Per Day (average)

20

Amicus Briefs Filed

76

Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA) Members

16.2 million

Unique Page Views of EFF.org

154 countries

Where “How to Fix the Internet” Podcast was Downloaded

489,400

EFFector Newsletter Subscribers

nearly 1 in 5 

EFF Members Live Outside the U.S.

34% of members  

are Sustaining Donors

Digital Privacy

EFF’s approach to privacy enables autonomy, anonymity, security, and the right to a life free from prying eyes. This allows for free association and expression, while also taking into account legitimate law enforcement concerns. National and local governments must put legal checks in place to prevent abuse of state powers, and international bodies should consider how a changing technological environment shapes security agencies’ best practices. 

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Promoting Medical Digital Privacy

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Illegal Data Sharing Leads to Targeting of Asian Americans

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illustration of eye in a cloud in the sky looking at student's books and tablets

Highlighting Student and Youth Privacy

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Security

Computer security—and the lack of it—is a fundamental issue that underpins much of how the internet does and doesn’t function. EFF works on a wide range of security issues, including standing up for encryption both in the U.S. and internationally, deploying cryptographic protocols, like HTTPS Everywhere and Certbot; offering legal assistance to researchers through our Coders’ Rights Project; delivering practical security advice to activists through the Surveillance Self-Defense project; directly auditing open source codebases; and working on the development of new security standards. 

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Fighting Stalkerware and Tech-Enabled Abuse

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Pushing Apple to Encrypt iCloud Backups

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Investigating Apps and Malware

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Transparency

EFF holds governments accountable to the public through federal and state freedom of information laws, the courtroom, and our megaphone. We showcase technologies and policies that help the transparency process, such as tools that make it easier to file and track public records requests, websites dedicated to whistleblowing, or open government initiatives to improve access to information. 

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Exposing Mass Surveillance of Cell Phone Users

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Revealing the Alarming Surveillance Technology at the U.S.-Mexico Border

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Stopping San Francisco's Killer Robots

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Atlas of Surveillance

Showcasing U.S. Law Enforcement Technology Usage via the Atlas of Surveillance

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Free Speech

EFF fights for free expression offered by new technology—overcoming the legal, structural, and corporate obstacles in the way of people around the world speaking their mind and accessing information and ideas. We should be able to use new technologies to publish our ideas; criticize those in power; gather and report the news; and make, adapt, and share creative works. This right is especially important for vulnerable communities, who must be able to safely meet, grow, and make themselves heard without being silenced or drowned out by the powerful.

illustration of an anthropormorphized cat speech into a megaphone

Protecting Student Speech

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It's Time for a Federal Anti-SLAPP Law

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Internet Infrastructure Providers Should Avoid Content Policing

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Creativity and Innovation

EFF works to protect and strengthen fair use, innovation, open access, net neutrality, and your freedom to tinker. Our digital future depends on our ability to access, use, and build on both information and technology. We challenge patent and copyright trolls in public and in court; argue in Congress for more balanced copyright and patent laws; and urge governments, funders, and educational institutions to adopt open access policies so established players do not silence the next generation of creators.

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Promoting Decentralization and the Fediverse

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Advocating for Adversarial Interoperability

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Encouraging Right to Repair

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Exposing Underhanded Operations of Patent Trolls

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International

EFF’s international team advocates for privacy, free speech, and an open internet in international venues and around the world. We expose mass and unwarranted surveillance and educate unlawfully targeted users on how to protect themselves and their colleagues. EFF uses individual cases to highlight the effect of technology on human rights and defend technologists from persecution and detention wherever they live. 

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Protecting Online Expression Worldwide

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Standing in Support of Iranian Technologists and Digital Rights Defenders

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Winning User Privacy and Human Rights in XR, AR, VR, and Wearable Tech

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Ongoing

EFA logo

Grassroots Organizing and the Electronic Frontier Alliance

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Certbot logo

Public Interest Technology

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Press and Communications

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Impact Litigation

Since its founding in 1990, EFF has consistently taken critical cases, challenged tough opponents, and achieved landmark victories. EFF has prevailed in lawsuits against the federal government, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the world’s largest entertainment companies, and major electronics companies, among others. EFF has also beaten bills in Congress and pressured companies to respect your rights.

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Legal and Legislative Victories

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New Lawsuits

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Policy Position Highlights

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Amicus Briefs Filed

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Financial Report

About

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. EFF is an essential champion of user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development, and has been since our founding in 1990. Our staff of 100—including lawyers, activists and technologists—works to ensure that our rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our reliance on technology grows. EFF works on issues at the local, state, federal, and international levels, and is supported by 34,500 members worldwide.

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EFF staff photo 2023

Thank You

EFF’s individual and organizational members around the globe drive the movement for digital privacy, the free exchange of ideas, and an online world in which the public’s interests come first. Together, we make a better digital future possible.  

EFF is grateful for the support of these public foundations: 

Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web 

The Ford Foundation 

Future of Life Institute 

Kaphan Foundation 

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation 

Open Society Foundations 

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 

Craig Newmark Philanthropies 

Mark Cuban Foundation 

The Stanton Foundation 

Someland Foundation 

California Community Foundation 

Swedish Postcode Foundation

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment 

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