# Electronic Frontier Foundation The **Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)** is the San Francisco nonprofit founded in July 1990 by [[Mitch Kapor]], John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore, with early help from Steve Wozniak, to defend civil liberties online. It is one of the oldest and best-known litigators on digital privacy, encryption and free expression. Its politics cut across the usual lines: it draws on libertarian technologists and progressive civil libertarians, and its main opponent across administrations has been the [[Surveillance State]]. ## Origins and early cases - **The raid.** The founders were moved to act by the Secret Service's March 1, 1990 raid on Steve Jackson Games in Austin, which seized computers and private email. No one was charged. EFF backed the company's suit; in 1993 a federal court awarded damages, and in 1994 the Fifth Circuit upheld the email-interception claim. (The raid is often lumped in with the separate Operation Sundevil; it was not part of it.) - **Code is speech.** In *Bernstein v. United States* (filed 1995), EFF backed a challenge to export controls on encryption software. A Ninth Circuit panel held in 1999 that source code is protected speech. That opinion was withdrawn for rehearing, the government loosened the rules, and the case was dismissed in 2003. - **The manifesto.** Barlow's "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" (Davos, February 8, 1996) became a founding text of cyber-libertarianism, a strand of thought that runs into the later Tech Right (see [[The Tech Right Hub]]). - **Deep Crack (1998).** A $250,000 machine EFF built to break the DES encryption standard in 56 hours, proving the government-approved cipher was too weak. ## The NSA cases - **Hepting v. AT&T (2006)** challenged AT&T's help with warrantless NSA wiretapping. It was dismissed in 2009 because the [[FISA Amendments Act]] of 2008 gave telecom companies retroactive immunity. - **Jewel v. NSA (2008)** targeted the government directly. After 13 years it ended on standing: the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal in 2021, and the Supreme Court declined review on June 13, 2022. The courts never reached whether the dragnet was legal. ## Tools EFF co-founded **Let's Encrypt** (announced 2014, launched 2016), which made free HTTPS certificates standard across the web, and maintains its Certbot client. It also makes the **Privacy Badger** tracker blocker. ## 2025–26 - **Leadership.** Cindy Cohn, executive director since 2015, announced in September 2025 that she would step down. **Nicole Ozer**, founder of the ACLU of Northern California's technology program, took over on June 1, 2026. - **[[FISA Section 702]].** When 702 lapsed at the end of June 12, 2026, EFF called it a "victory." Its position is that the FBI should need a warrant before looking at Americans' communications, or 702 should be allowed to expire. Collection continues under existing court approvals. See [[FISA Section 702 Renewal 2026]]. - **[[DOGE]].** In *AFGE v. OPM* (filed February 11, 2025), EFF is co-counsel for federal workers. In June 2025 Judge Denise Cote enjoined further disclosure of [[OPM]] personnel records to DOGE under the Privacy Act. - **Visa-holder surveillance.** On behalf of the UAW, CWA and AFT unions, EFF sued the State Department in October 2025 over AI-driven social-media monitoring of visa and green-card holders. A ruling denying dismissal on October 1, 2026 rests on EFF's own case page. - **License-plate cameras.** EFF's 2025 investigations of [[Flock Safety]] found more than 12 million searches by over 3,900 agencies, including searches tied to abortion and to protests. With the ACLU it sued San Jose in November 2025 over roughly 500 cameras. - **Palantir.** EFF criticizes [[Palantir]]'s work for ICE, including the use of Medicaid data to target raids; see [[ImmigrationOS]]. That is the vault's [[Peter Thiel News Log]] connection. EFF is a critic of the Thiel-founded company, not a Thiel affiliate. **Finances.** Revenue was $21.6M in the year to June 2025 ($29.4M the year before), with net assets of about $56M. ## See Also - [[Encryption]] · [[Privacy]] · [[Surveillance State]] · [[Surveillance Capitalism]] - [[FISA Section 702]] · [[FISA Section 702 Renewal 2026]] · [[FISA Amendments Act]] · [[NSA]] - [[Flock Safety]] · [[ImmigrationOS]] · [[Palantir]] · [[DOGE]] · [[OPM]] · [[Kapor Center]]