Hey Reddit, this is EFF's activism team! We are starting a week long campaign against CISPA today - AMA

trevorEFF · 1 month

On a somewhat related note, we'll have a new edition of our "Who has your back?" study in a few weeks. This year we are profiling over 20 online and Internet service providers so you can have a better idea about which companies support Internet freedom and the privacy rights of their users and which companies don't.

trevorEFF · 1 month

Thanks so much! Very kind of you to say. If you want to stay involved, there are a bunch of ways you can help without giving money. Check them out here: https://www.eff.org/helpout

Also, we are trying to do more outreach to colleges around the country and may soon have travel funding to come visit for talks. If you're interested in starting an EFF-like group at your school email rainey@eff.org.

trevorEFF · 1 month

Yes, we want to be careful about over using the SOPA moniker because we want it to stay powerful when we do use it. There's always the change it can turn into a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario.

Although we weren't pushing the "SOPA 2.0" meme like others, in CISPA, there was actually an intellectual property clause that we looked at as a backdoor to copyright enforcement. But thankfully (because Congress is now so afraid of SOPA) they removed it completely. Privacy was always the worry in this bill, which is different than censorship and excessive copyright enforcement.

But both bills are very dangerous though - just in different ways. And if there is a thread that binds them, it's that Congress continues to try to legislate the Internet with no input from its users.

trevorEFF · 1 month

We have a 'victories' page, but unfortunately it hasn't been updated in a couple years (should be in two weeks though). https://w2.eff.org/legal/victories/

More recently, obviously the SOPA protest was a huge victory. Also, getting DMCA exemptions for jailbreaking iPhones and other smart phones. We are currently before the Copyright Office right now trying to expand that exemption to tablets and video game consoles.

And sorry to beat a dead horse, but we want to make sure the cybersecurity bill does not fly under the radar, which is always a danger.

trevorEFF · 1 month

The day of the blackout, seeing all of the different sites protesting in so many creative ways, was quite a sight. I think despite all our planning, we were still taken aback at the beauty of it all.

When SOPA first dropped, it was so horrible we wanted to kill it entirely, but to be honest, it had so much support we knew that was going to be tough - if not impossible. Especially considering no one in the general public knew what it was.

After a month of working, it was pretty clear the tech community was on high alert, but it still wasn't getting through to the general public. It probably wasn't until a week before the blackout that everyday Americans finally got wind - and just in time.

And of course, by the day after the blackout SOPA was known by every person in America from ages 12-75.

trevorEFF · 1 month

It is certainly a daunting task sometimes. Like in the SOPA battle, the content industry outspent the tech industry 13-1 in lobbying Congress. But the SOPA protests certainly showed what ordinary Internet users are capable of if they are organized - they can overcome odds that were previously thought impossible. So I think we are more optimistic than we've ever been, despite more action in Congress than ever.

And yes - we love Humble Bundle! Every bundle they release we have been able to get a lot of funds that weren't available to us before. And they are great games, so it's a win/win.

trevorEFF · 1 month

We don't have a pamphlet on CISPA that we have on other issues yet (coming soon!), but I would point them towards this FAQ that we just released this morning explaining all the privacy dangers people should be worried about.

trevorEFF · 1 month

Our Director of International Freedom of Expression Jillian York has more specifics: "EFF's international team focuses on freedom of expression, privacy, cybersecurity, surveillance, and intellectual property, among (a few) other things. We engage in European policy processes (more info here and here), as well as the Internet Governance Forum. We also work with grassroots activists and NGOs all over the world in fighting for a free and open Internet. At the moment, for example, two members of the international team are at the Swedish government's Stockholm Internet Forum."

trevorEFF · 1 month

The main part of CISPA that companies like is the provision that allows the government to share classified cybersecurity information with them so they can better protect themselves. Facebook, for example, says this is why they decided to support the bill. And while we can argue about the scope, that is an okay goal.

The section that allows companies to voluntarily share our private information with the government, however, is the real problem. You can read more in our FAQ, but basically companies could hand over our emails to the government with no warrant - no nothing - and the government could use that for other purposes besides "cybersecurity."

The bill's authors could take this provision out and companies will still get all the benefits they wanted in the first place. This spying section is the portion that will destroy our privacy and it's a section that's not even needed to accomplish the bill's goals.

Facebook even admitted on Friday they don't like this section, don't need it, or don't want it, but for now, it's still in the bill. So that's why we need people to go here and email their member of Congress to vote against it.

trevorEFF · 1 month

It probably won't stop anytime soon, but the good news is we now have Congress' attention. They insisted they would not listen to any of the Internet's criticism of SOPA up until the day of the blackout, and then within 24 hours, the bill they thought was inevitable completely collapsed.

This time around with CISPA—while the bill is horrible and seemingly written by people who don't understand the Internet—they are terrified what happened with SOPA will happen again and at least seem willing to negotiate. They are bending over backwards to stop the SOPA comparisons - and even are taking the intellectual property clause completely out of the bill! They are also insisting they want to work with civil liberties groups this time - most likely because they recognize the power that normal Internet users now wield if they choose to organize.

The best thing we can all do is stay aware of bills going through Congress that affect the Internet and sound the alarm as early as possible. If we can get out in front of these bills and make it clear to Congress that their jobs depend on them protecting the Internet, then we will continue to make progress.

trevorEFF · 1 month

You can go to https://www.eff.org/awards/coop/rules and as long as you followed all the rules, it will tell you how to submit a claim.

trevorEFF · 4 months

We've been thinking about this one all day. This is our response: https://eff.org/r.Q6w

trevorEFF · 4 months

We really appreciate it.

While we're here, everyone should read about the government's unconstitutional censorship of dajaz1: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111208/08225217010/breaking-news-feds-falsely-censor-popular-blog-over-year-deny-all-due-process-hide-all-details.shtml

trevorEFF · 4 months

Speaking for just myself, drones worry me the most, both on the privacy side and government secrecy side. An op-ed I recently wrote in Al Jazeera on the subject: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/12/201112774824829807.html

Also, check out our lawsuit against the FAA and the excellent article our staff attorney Jennifer Lynch wrote on drones: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/drones-are-watching-you

trevorEFF · 4 months

We actually just expanded in the way you proposed! We know have four full-time activists who concentrate on nothing but educating the public and grassroots activism - that's double what we've had in the past. We'll have many new projects like Chilling Effects Clearinghouse coming out in the near future.

But if you have any ideas, we are certainly all ears.

We work with the ACLU a lot. Recently, our most notable collaboration was in the Twitter/WikiLeaks case.

trevorEFF · 4 months

Wait, there's more! Here are many ways to help that don't include a monthly membership: https://www.eff.org/helpout

trevorEFF · 4 months

Here's a link to how you can volunteer: https://www.eff.org/about/opportunities/volunteer

And here's a link to how you could help in other ways: https://www.eff.org/helpout

Thanks for asking.

trevorEFF · 4 months

We don't do much lobbying because we're registered as a 501(3)c non-profit. And as far as tech sector lobbying goes, the content industries outspent the tech sector 13-1 in Congress! The Internet still won, though :)

Here are some ways you can help EFF if you'd like to get more involved: https://www.eff.org/helpout

trevorEFF · 4 months

The Internet companies certainly helped, but remember: many of the big sites participating, like Wikipedia and Mozilla -- along with EFF -- are non-profits. Reddit's participation was also almost entirely user-based.

And even with the tech companies participating, it was normal citizens that did the leg work and flooded Congress with emails and phone calls.

trevorEFF · 4 months

We're a non-partisan organization, and in fact, a lot of our members are conservative or libertarian. But Internet freedom should never be a partisan issue.

A good point to make when talking about how the work of EFF is supported by all political stripes is the recent opposition by Republicans to SOPA and PIPA. They led the charge in getting the bills killed. All four GOP presidential candidates even denounced the bills as a threat to Internet freedom.

trevorEFF · 4 months

I asked our staff technologist, the great Seth Schoen, for an answer about Tor exit nodes. Here's what he said:

"EFF doesn't vouch for Tor exit nodes. We don't know who runs a particular node, and we don't have any way to tell whether a node operator (or their ISP) is tapping communications. You should always use encryption, like HTTPS, on all of the traffic that you send through Tor so that your traffic can't be tapped by the exit node operator or an ISP downstream from it.

This is why EFF and the Tor Project are co-developing HTTPS Everywhere and why it's included by default in the Tor Browser Bundle. You can also check to make sure that services you may use through Tor with software other than a web browser (like an instant messaging or e-mail client) are using TLS encryption."

trevorEFF · 4 months

Of course donations are great because we are a non-profit which doesn't take money from the goverment. But there are many ways you can help, including becoming a volunteer. Here's our page for all the ways you can contribute: https://www.eff.org/helpout

And thanks so much for asking!

trevorEFF · 4 months

Thanks Tamar! And thanks to Namecheap for taking such strong stand against SOPA and PIPA.

trevorEFF · 4 months

We actually just launched https://globalchokepoints.org/, which looks at censorship via copyright laws worldwide. It is a work in progress, so check back soon for updates on pending bills - that's one of our goals.

trevorEFF

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