When Apple, Inc. announced that it was planning to scan images on personal devices in a poorly-conceived attempt to advance child safety, EFF sprang into action. We gathered 25,000 signatures on a petition, helped organize protests at Apple stores nationwide, and hosted an event to make sure that Apple heard from those (especially children) who have first-hand experience with the real dangers of device insecurity. EFF also flew a banner plane over Apple’s headquarters during its major product launch to make sure its employees and executives got our message.

Our message was received: Apple first delayed and then agreed not to scan iMessage and send notifications to parents. Read more about the Apple: Don’t Scan Our Phones here:

1. Why EFF Flew a Plane Over Apple’s Headquarters
2. Don’t Stop Now: Join EFF, Fight for the Future at Apple Protests Nationwide
3. 25,000 EFF Supporters Have Told Apple Not To Scan Their Phones
4. Delays Aren’t Good Enough—Apple Must Abandon Its Surveillance Plans
5. EFF Joins Global Coalition Asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to Stop Phone-Scanning
6. Apple’s Plan to Scan Photos in Messages Turns Young People Into Privacy Pawns

                

                  I appreciate the important work the EFF does. We will look back some years from now with a clear view of just how important that work turned out to be. Thank you!

- 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF stood with parents and students against increased school surveillance. When Dartmouth accused medical students of cheating based on a flawed understanding of how their proctoring technology works, our technology experts dug into the data and showed that what looked like cheating was just the students’ computers working in the background. Dartmouth continued their threats of suspension and even instituted a policy preventing students from speaking out on social media until EFF’s intervention fueled news coverage on the issue. Dartmouth eventually admitted its error and dropped its allegations.

EFF also brought litigation to protect a student who faced copyright claims after demonstrating the extent of surveillance conducted by the student surveillance company Proctorio.

                

                  
Appreciate all [of] your hard work. My kids will live in a better world because of EFF and your commitment to privacy and transparency in the digital space." 

- 2021 member survey response
                
              

Digital, scannable credentials, such as vaccine passports, are hard to separate from tracking tools, and we should be alert to efforts to deploy dangerous technology under the guise of public safety. EFF was a vocal opponent of digital “vaccine bouncers"—proposals that required a new tracking infrastructure and normalized a culture of doorkeepers to public places as an ineffective and dangerous approach to fighting the pandemic. We opposed regularly requiring visitors to display a digital token as a condition of entry. We also called for equitable distribution of vaccines and worked to ward off overbroad patent claims that would limit supply and increase costs. EFF published 92 blog posts regarding digital rights impacted by COVID-19, and spoke to or consulted with press, government, and private entities on these issues almost daily. We advocated for and against COVID-related bills in legislatures across the country. For example, EFF supported two California bills signed in 2021 related to genetic data. AB 825 will expand data breach notification requirements to include genetic data. SB 41 will establish the Genetic Information Privacy Act, requiring a direct-to-consumer genetic testing company to provide a consumer with notice and consent regarding its genetic data collection, use, and disclosure policies. Read more.

                

                  I value your insight into privacy protection and security. 

I enjoy learning about the security of our privacy and receiving information on how best to protect our privacy online and learn about government actions. You are a source of information that I appreciate very much. I translate your web pages using a web page translator."

- 2021 member survey responses
                
              

Co-founded by EFF, leading antivirus companies, and victim support groups in 2019, the Coalition Against Stalkerware received the J.D. Falk Award for raising awareness, increasing detection, and combating the spread of malware used for stalking and intimate partner abuse. The coalition of more than 40 members helps those targeted by stalkerware and works with antivirus makers to improve detection on mobile phones, laptops, and other devices. While the coalition exposes and holds accountable the companies and individuals behind stalkerware apps, the Stopstalkerware website helps victims to learn how to protect their devices, as well as find and remove stalkerware once it has been installed. It also offers a global directory of organizations for victims of stalking, domestic violence, online abuse, and more, offered in seven different languages. As a result of the coalition’s work with the anti-virus industry, detection rates have grown rapidly, with many of the top antivirus programs catching between 80 to 100 percent of the most prevalent stalkerware strains for Android. Read more.

                

                  
I want to thank everyone at the EFF for all the hard work they do protecting and improving our freedoms. I enjoy getting updates on the progress of all of your different ventures, and I will continue doing what I can to help. Thank you."

- 2021 member survey response
                
              

For more than 10 years, EFF’s HTTPS Everywhere browser extension provided a much-needed service to users: encrypting their browser communications with websites and making sure they benefit from the protection of HTTPS wherever possible. The secure connections help block eavesdropping, so an attacker can’t learn the content of the information you are accessing, and also provide protection against criminals and others tampering with contents of websites. Since we started offering HTTPS Everywhere, the battle to encrypt the web has made leaps and bounds. What was once a costly and challenging technical problem is now a mainstream standard offered on most web pages. HTTPS is truly just about everywhere—thanks to the work of organizations like Let’s Encrypt, which EFF helped create. EFF’s own Certbot tool, the largest server client for Let’s Encrypt, helps web administrators automate HTTPS for free. Certbot offers domain owners and website administrators a convenient way to move to HTTPS with easy-to-follow, interactive instructions based on their webserver and operating system. By 2017 it had issued 100 million certificates. By 2021, about 90% of all web page visits used HTTPS, and websites could more easily offer secure connections to their users. In 2021, EFF also partnered with DuckDuckGo to incorporate their “Smarter Encryption” into HTTPS Everywhere.

Just over a decade after its launch, EFF declared success and announced the planned deprecation of our HTTPS Everywhere plugin because the functionality had been incorporated into all of the major web browsers, making it unnecessary.

                

                  
I see EFF as a forefront organization to protect the people's rights to privacy, security and anonymity on the internet. Please keep up the great work. And please remember that the internet belongs to the people exclusively.     
 
I think I'm coming up on my tenth year of being a member. As happy to support you now as ever. Keep doing what you do.     
 
Big love to EFF. Along with the ACLU, you're one of the most important legal rights organizations in the United States. I wish I could give more." 

- 2021 member survey responses
                
              

EFF supported local and state governments across the country in their fights against “predictive” or “data-driven” policing. These programs rely on problematic artificial intelligence tools that are not transparent and often themselves arise from racially-biased data and assumptions. For example, EFF joined 16 other groups in supporting a new law in Oakland, California, that strengthens the city’s already groundbreaking Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance. This law includes prohibitions on Oakland’s Police Department using predictive policing technology—which has been shown to amplify existing bias in policing—as well as a range of privacy-invasive biometric surveillance technologies to the city’s existing ban on government use of face recognition. See “Impact Litigation” section under “Ongoing Work” for additional examples.

EFF engaged in the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Aviation Rulemaking Committee for Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones)—working closely with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) to have a united front against corporate interests. We pushed for privacy measures and for the FAA to finally address these issues. We had several calls directly with the FAA to discuss positions and disagreements, and submitted a memo that addressed our concerns, suggestions, and next steps. We also opposed drone usage by police on the local level.

                

                  
I think I'm coming up on my tenth year of being a member. As happy to support you now as ever. Keep doing what you do."  

- 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF collaborated with Consumer Reports and other groups to create the Dark Patterns Tip Line, an online platform that allows people to submit and highlight “deceptive design tactics used in websites and apps to persuade you into doing things you probably would not do otherwise.”

Police aren’t just accessing other people’s databases, they are creating their own with the dangerous use of digital technology. EFF went to court to hold police accountable, endorsed regulatory proposals, and published records shedding light on police surveillance. EFF’s Atlas of Surveillance project is the largest ever public-facing database of police surveillance technology—created by mobilizing hundreds of student journalists and volunteer researchers throughout the country to turn the tables on police spying. In 2021, the Atlas had over 8,100 data points and was viewed over 100,000 times. We also filed a lawsuit on behalf of three immigrant rights activists after the Marin County, California sheriff’s department was illegally sharing the sensitive location information of millions of drivers collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRs). The data was made available to over 400 out-of-state and 18 federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

With increasing frequency, law enforcement has been using unconstitutional, suspicionless digital dragnet searches in an attempt to identify suspects in criminal cases. For example, investigators can conduct searches for everyone who was near a building where a crime occurred, or who searched for a keyword like “bomb,” or who shares genetic data with a crime scene DNA sample. While dragnet searches were once thought to be just the province of the NSA, it is easier than ever for law enforcement to conduct them because of the massive amounts of digital information we share—knowingly or not—with companies and other third parties. This data–including information on where we’ve been, what we’ve searched for, and even genetic makeup–is stored in vast databases. Law enforcement has ready access to it, frequently without much legal process.

EFF and a coalition of 60 other organizations, called on Google to both fight geofence warrants and to be much more transparent about the warrants it’s receiving. Unlike traditional warrants for electronic records, a geofence warrant doesn’t start with a suspect or even an account. Instead the warrant directs Google to search a vast database of location history information to identify every device that Google knows was in the area around the time of the crime—regardless of whether the device owner has any other link to the investigation. Both Google and Apple pushed back on shady location data aggregators by banning certain Software Development Kits (SDKs) from their app stores and kicking out at least one location data broker entirely.

EFF released Data Driven 2: California Dragnet, a new public records collection and data set that shines light on the massive amount of vehicle surveillance conducted by police in California using automated license plate readers (ALPRs)—and how very little of this surveillance is actually relevant to an active public safety interest. EFF also focused efforts in both the courts and legislatures.

                

                  
EFF is a really special and amazing organization. Holding government and organizations accountable for all of us is really the epitome of grassroots organizations with the ability to deliver. I'm an EFF fan for life." 

- 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF launched a report, in conjunction with an investigation with the Los Angeles Times, on Amazon Ring’s financial entanglements with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and highlighted the department’s use of Ring footage of Black Lives Matter protests. We later submitted a letter raising concerns and calling on the California Attorney General to initiate a public integrity investigation into the relationship between Amazon Ring and the LAPD. After a successful media campaign by EFF, Amazon Ring later announced it would change the way police can request footage from millions of doorbell cameras in communities across the country: Instead of police sending automatic bulk email requests to individual Ring users in an area of interest up to a square half mile, police will instead post their requests to Ring’s accompanying Neighbors app. Users of that app will see a “Request for Assistance” on their feed (unless they opt out), then Ring customers can respond by reviewing and providing their footage.

Face surveillance is a growing menace to racial justice, privacy, and free speech. EFF supports laws that ban government use of this dangerous technology, as well as laws requiring corporations to get written opt-in consent from a person before collecting their faceprint. EFF staff continued to speak regularly to the press, government, advocacy organizations, criminal defense attorneys, and industry groups about appropriate uses for biometrics, as well as commented—both publicly and informally—on legislative proposals at the state and federal level to limit biometrics. One of the worst biometrics offenders is Clearview AI, which extracts faceprints from billions of people without their consent and uses these faceprints to help police identify suspects. EFF filed amicus briefs in two cases against Clearview. EFF also opposed weakening or negating San Francisco’s privacy ordinance, which included a Community Control of Police Surveillance (CCOPS) provision and ban on government use of face recognition.

                

                  
I am proud to be a member of an organization that is doing such important work." 

 - 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF has long fought the unfair criminal persecution of security experts, who have unfortunately been the subject of the same types of harassment as those they work to protect, such as human rights defenders and activists. We joined a coalition of press freedom, civil liberties, and human rights groups that sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Department of Justice to drop its efforts to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange, who is strongly protected by the First Amendment to publish truthful information of clear public interest, even when the documents are illegally obtained. Assange’s case highlights a repeated, known pattern of governments enforcing computer crime law selectively and purposely in order to punish dissenting voices, including journalists. EFF also called for the release of Alaa Abdel Fattah, Egyptian blogger, coder, and activist who had been jailed for more than two years at a maximum-security prison in Tora, and continued to monitor and raise awareness of developments in the prosecution of Ola Bini (Swedish computer security expert) in Ecaudor. As part of its 30th anniversary fireside chat series, EFF hosted a conversation with Edward Snowden on the topic of surveillance.

                

                  
I'm very grateful for all EFF does to advocate for individual rights worldwide." 

 - 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF advocated for widespread and equitable broadband access at the federal, state, and local levels. We fought on behalf of consumers at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that the rules firmly empower users, not Internet Service Providers (ISPs). We also challenged “digital redlining” of broadband, where wealthy broadband users receive the benefits of cheaper and faster Internet access through fiber, and low-income broadband users are left behind with slower and more expensive legacy service from the same carrier.

EFF co-sponsored California state bill S.B. 4, which promotes construction of the 21st century infrastructure necessary to eventually close the digital divide in that state. That legislation was later reintroduced as S.B. 156 and Executive Order N-73-20 and signed into law—the largest planned investment in public open access fiber in the country, as well as the first-in-the-nation of this type of financing support to help local governments to build fiber. The state broadband bills secure sustained funding to deliver modern internet access to all state residents.

But these new programs need support on the local level. To help with that work, EFF published a comprehensive study detailing how efficient an investment in open access fiber for Los Angeles County would be compared to subsidizing carriers.

EFF continued our efforts to free the internet from the grip of the tech giants. We analyzed and provided feedback to Congress on a package of antitrust reform bills, which moved forward through a marathon hearing in the House Judiciary Committee. The House of Representatives’ subcommittee covering antitrust focused its attention to “reviving competition,” and one of the hearings centered on how to help small businesses challenge Big Tech. One very good idea, backed by both parties, kept surfacing: interoperability. EFF has long championed interoperability as a technology-based strategy for revitalizing competition, encouraging innovation, and giving users more self-determination in their digital lives.

We published Privacy Without Monopoly: Data Protection and Interoperability, a whitepaper on how to break big tech’s grip on users’ internet experience while still protecting user privacy. We increased audience reach through at least 37 speaking engagements by EFF staff on the topic, blog posts, and press releases. The paper was also featured on “Interoperability News,” a website that focuses on interoperability in Europe. Interoperability—whether through legally mandated standards or guerilla reverse-engineering—is how we can deliver technological self-determination to internet users today. It’s how we can give users the power to leave the walled gardens where they are tormented by the indifference, incompetence, and malice of tech platforms, and relocate to smaller, more responsive alternatives that are operated by co-ops, nonprofits, startups, or hobbyists. EFF challenged the legal strictures that prevent interoperability: new ways of applying cybersecurity law, copyright, patents, and other laws and regulations that make it illegal (or legally terrifying) to make new products that plug into existing ones. By changing the law to make it easier for users to walk away from Big Tech silos, we change what kind of technology can be built, what kinds of businesses can be operated, and what kind of lives digital users can make. Read more.

                

                  
EFF rocks, I’ve been supporting you for years because of your strong ideals and support of freedom, privacy and security. Please keep fighting for the people. The push to decentralize the internet is a new area where the EFF[’]s leadership would be appreciated.
 
All of you do outstanding work, stick to your principles and fight the good fight, we are depending on your resilience and absolute determination on the topics you stand for. Not all of us can fight like you can, but all of us wish we could, and if my donations help in any small way, I'm happy."

- 2021 member survey responses
                
              

EFF fought hard for increased transparency in the patent system that will allow us to call out the worst actors, and ultimately get a more balanced patent system. We also worked to defend and strengthen patent review systems that permit bad patents to be kicked out of the system more efficiently. We advised decision-makers on patent transparency bills and commented on US Copyright Office programs. EFF supported the International Trade Commission (ITC) reform bill, which would have the effect of kicking patent trolls out of the ITC. We also advocated against an expansion of design patent protection. Read more.

                

                  
If I were a rich person, I would endow EFF substantially… Regardless, I am one of so many developers that benefit from your work; no words could really describe the gratitude I feel for the EFF." 

 - 2021 member survey response
                
              

Alongside partners in Latin America, we fostered stronger human rights standards for government access to data. In addition to robust safeguards and controls, we want governments to commit to promoting and protecting strong encryption and device security. Based on the principle that encryption is an essential tool for security and respect for human and fundamental rights in the region (including freedom of expression and privacy), this multi-stakeholder alliance advances collective capacity building and information sharing. It aims to strengthen the use of encryption while generating an ecosystem of trust, security, and stability within information and communications technologies—particularly the critical infrastructure of the internet and its applications and services in the region. EFF is on the alliance Steering Committee. Read more.

                

                  
Keep fighting the good fight. Y’all are a trusted source of information for me, I appreciate all that you do." 

 - 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF continued its campaign to modify and oppose the 2018 regulation to prevent the dissemination of terrorist content online. This proposal contained some alarming ideas, considering that research has found that companies routinely make content moderation errors that remove speech that parodies or pushes back against terrorism, or documents human rights violations in countries like Syria that are experiencing war. Read more.

                

                  
All of you do outstanding work, stick to your principles and fight the good fight, we are depending on your resilience and absolute determination on the topics you stand for. Not all of us can fight like you can, but all of us wish we could, and if my donations help in any small way, I'm happy." 

- 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF published a Digital Services Act policy paper directed at EU leaders to shape its proposed internet legislation—the e-Commerce Directive. The directive intended to lay out new responsibilities and rules for how Facebook, Amazon, and other companies that host content handle and make decisions about billions of users’ posts, comments, messages, photos, and videos. We worked tirelessly to reform the EU’s Digital Markets Act so it would create actual competition in the online marketplace without harming message security.

                

                  
Keep fighting the good fight, I appreciate you all, each and every one of you... Our country, our world, needs you now more than ever." 

 - 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF and a coalition of civil society organizations and academics released the second edition of the Santa Clara Principles on Transparency and Accountability In Content Moderation, which outline standards related to transparency, due process, cultural competence, and respect for human rights that internet platforms should meet in order to provide meaningful, public-facing transparency around their moderation of all user-generated content, paid or unpaid. The update added standards to the original 2018 principles directed at government and state actors, and aimed at strengthening due process and expanding guidelines for reporting on and notifying users about takedowns.

Following the widespread removal of activist accounts in Palestine and Israel, we worked with more than a dozen allies to create StopSilencingPalestine.com, demanding that Facebook operate with more transparency and accountability in the region. Specifically, the coalition called on the company to reinstate wrongfully deleted accounts and content, and to open an investigation into the takedowns. The campaign received significant support and resulted in the implementation of monthly roundtable conversations with Facebook and the involved organizations. Leaks released in the Facebook Papers have since garnered more scrutiny of the company’s practices. Read more.

                

                  
I greatly appreciate all of the information and helping me to stay up to date on the current online rights issues! It's hard to get a somewhat unbiased source of information on these topics…"

- 2021 member survey response   
                
              

This project launched by EFF in late 2021 seeks accountability for powerful online censors, and to hold them to just and inclusive standards of expressive discourse, transparency, and due process in a way that protects marginalized voices, dissent, and disparate communities. It records and combats international speech restrictions, especially where censorship policies are exported from Europe and the United States to the rest of the world. Read more.

Diverse grassroots organizations across the country share strong connections to EFF. We created and continue to support the Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA), an information-sharing network which has grown to 75 member groups in 26 US states and Puerto Rico. Some members are fully volunteer-run, some are affiliated with a broader institution (such as student groups), and others are independent non-profit organizations. Members of the EFA have continued to innovate by organizing workshops and trainings for neighbors and made important headway on issues like equitable broadband access, surveillance oversight, ensuring users’ rights are protected from unfair business practices, and banning government use of face recognition. What EFA groups all share is an investment in local organizing, a not-for-profit model, and a passion for five guiding principles:

• Free Expression: People should be able to speak their minds to whomever will listen.
• Security: Technology should be trustworthy and answer to its users.
• Privacy: Technology should allow private and anonymous speech, and allow users to set their own parameters about what to share with whom.
• Creativity: Technology should promote progress by allowing people to build on the ideas, creations, and inventions of others.
• Access to Knowledge: Curiosity should be rewarded, not stifled.

See our EFA member spotlight on Restore the 4th Minnesota (RT4MN). Read more about EFA victories.

Legal and Legislative Victories

1. First Amendment Right to Secretly Audio Record the Police Upheld by First Circuit. EFF filed an amicus brief in late 2019. (4/5/21) Federal
2. Supreme Court Overturns Overbroad Interpretation of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), Protecting Security Researchers and Everyday Users (6/3/21) Federal
3. Dangerous DHS Proposed Rule to Expand Biometrics Collection Rescinded (6/30/21) Federal
4. Federal Court Halts Florida’s Censorious Social Media Law Privileging Politicians’ Speech Over Everyday Users (7/1/21) Federal
5. Fourth Circuit Rules Baltimore’s Warrantless Aerial Surveillance Program Unconstitutional (7/2/21) Federal
6. United States v. Wilson EFF filed an amicus brief in 2019. (9/21/21) Federal
7. Surveillance Company Not Immune from International Lawsuit (11/10/21) Federal
8. Federal Court Blocks Texas’ Unconstitutional Social Media Law (12/14/21) Federal
9. Defending OpenBeta App from DMCA Takedown (3/25/21)
10. Three Months of Warrantless Video Surveillance Violates the Constitution. EFF previously filed an amicus brief. (9/22/21) State - CO
11. Dartmouth Ends Unfounded Cheating Investigation After Students, Rights Groups Speak Out (6/10/21) Local
12. Oakland’s City Council Unanimously Approves Communications Choice Ordinance (10/21/21) Local

New Lawsuits

1. EFF Sues Proctorio on Behalf of Student It Falsely Accused of Copyright Infringement to Get Critical Tweets Taken Down (4/21/21)
2. EFF Sues Police Standards Agency to Obtain Use of Force Training Materials (5/21/21)
3. EFF Sues U.S. Postal Service For Records About Covert Social Media Spying Program (7/27/21)
4. Saudi Human Rights Activist, Represented by EFF, Sues Spyware Maker DarkMatter For Violating U.S. Anti-Hacking and International Human Rights Laws (12/9/21)

Policy Positions

1. EFF to Council of Europe: Cross Border Police Surveillance Treaty Must Have Ironclad Safeguards to Protect Individual Rights and Users’ Data (9/8/21) International
2. Opposition to Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)’s Proposed Regulations of Cryptocurrency Transactions (1/4/21) Federal
3. 16 Civil Society Organizations Call on Congress to Fix the Cryptocurrency Provision of the Infrastructure Bill (8/5/21) Federal
4. Crack Down on License Plate Data Collection and Storage Duration (3/22/21) State - CA

Amicus Briefs Filed

1. Schools Should Not Be Policing Students’ Weekend Snapchat Posts (2/17/21) Federal
2. States Face High Burden to Justify Forcing Groups to Turn Over Donor Names (3/9/21) Federal
3. Users Must Be Able to Hold Tech Companies Accountable in Lawsuits When Their Data is Mishandled (3/10/21) Federal
4. Schools Can’t Punish Students for Off-Campus Speech, Including Social Media Posts, EFF Tells Supreme Court (3/31/21) Federal
5. Unconstitutional Florida Law Barring Platforms from Suspending Politicians Should be Blocked (6/14/21) Federal
6. Release ICE Database Information to ACLU (8/27/21) Federal
7. Warrantless 24-Hour Video Surveillance Outside Homes Violates Fourth Amendment (11/12/21) Federal
8. Protect Anonymous Speakers, Apply Proper Test Before Unmasking Them In Trademark Commentary Case (11/18/21) Federal
9. Petition for a writ of certiorari: EFF and ACLU Ask Supreme Court to Review Case Against Warrantless Searches of International Travelers’ Phones and Laptops (4/23/21) Federal, along with ACLU and ACLU MA
10. Don’t Let Pseudo-IP Thwart Speech, Innovation, and Competition (3/31/21) State - PA
11. Challenging Surreptitious Collection of DNA (4/9/21) State, along with ACLU and ACLU IA
12. Cloud Storage Providers’ Terms of Service (TOS) can’t Take Away Your Fourth Amendment Rights (4/22/21) State, along with ACLU and ACLU MN
13. Forensic Software Source Code Must Be Disclosed to the Defendant (5/14/21) State - CA
14. Forensic Technology in Criminal Cases should be Transparent, Reliable, and Accurate (11/24/21) State - NY
15. Stop SFPD from Spying on Protesters for Black Lives (9/27/21) Local

                

                  
Big love to EFF. Along with the ACLU, you're one of the most important legal rights organizations in the United States. I wish I could give more." 

 - 2021 member survey response
                
              

EFF uses communications strategically in all of our advocacy efforts. For example, EFF’s campaign around Amazon’s Ring camera–and especially the close relationships and sweetheart deals that Ring pursued with law enforcement–slowly gathered enough media attention that Amazon dropped that portion of its program and significantly scaled back on how police access the private camera networks. EFF’s AlHathloul v. Dark Matter lawsuit received good press coverage globally, and tapped into a heightened global awareness about spyware used by authoritarian governments—with little accountability for companies supplying the technology that has hurt journalists, dissidents, and activists, such as EFF’s client. The story was covered by Reuters, Associated Press, Washington Post, The Guardian, and Al-Jazeera, resulting in nearly 200 mentions, plus a strong social media response. “Companies that peddle their surveillance software and services to oppressive governments must be held accountable for the resulting human rights abuses,” said EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene in the press release.

EFF also communicated regularly with the nearly half a million subscribers to the EFFector newsletter. EFF’s How to Fix the Internet podcast was launched in late 2020. In 2021, 6 episodes of Season 2 were released, with nearly 58,000 total downloads. EFF continued to post frequently to our informative Deeplinks Blog, including a Year in Review series.

                

                  
EFF is a great organization and does good work that is in the interest of most people. The posts on the EFF website are clear and informative.
 
I want to thank everyone at the EFF for all the hard work they do protecting and improving our freedoms. I enjoy getting updates on the progress of all of your different ventures, and I will continue doing what I can to help. Thank you.
 
Keep being awesome! The EFF email newsletter is always a treat to see in my inbox and it comes at just the right frequency. When you don't send too much mail, the mail you do send matters. More ways to donate would be awesome."

- 2021 member survey responses 
                
              

Privacy Badger

Privacy Badger is a browser add-on created and maintained by EFF that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web. If an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger automatically blocks that advertiser from loading any more content in your browser. To the advertiser seeking to track you, it’s like you suddenly disappeared. Available to the public for free, Privacy Badger was the first add-on to specifically focus on blocking tracking in advertisements, instead of just the ads themselves. EFF’s open-source technology has also inspired other widely used privacy tools, including the Brave browser and Safari’s tracker blocking.

Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) guide

Created by EFF, this online guide provides vital information on how to use secure technology and develop careful practices. It includes tutorials for installing and using security-friendly software, and information on making a security plan, strong passwords, protecting metadata, and much more. SSD is available in 12 languages, in whole or in part.

                

                  
I greatly appreciate all [of the] tools and resources to help individuals maximize their own privacy, in addition to the important advocacy work that EFF [is] doing.
 
As technology's role in our lives grows in prominence, it's important to make sure it's used to enrich our lives and not diminish them. It's difficult to stay on top of things, even for those of us whose lives primarily revolve around tech…  Supporting [EFF], an organization…of passionate and knowledgeable people to help in that effort benefits all of us and allows me to contribute to the cause."  

- 2021 member survey responses