A quarter of a century ago this week, ignorance and overreach on the part of government officials led to the founding in San Francisco of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), as an organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting civil liberties in the emerging digital world.
As the first ‘digital rights’ organisation, EFF has played a central and critical role both within the US and around the globe in holding back the reflexive impulses of governments and some corporations to undermine the open and interoperable nature of the Internet, and to impose controls over the free dissemination of content and ideas. This is a role that EFF continues to play to this day.
EFF was also a primary inspiration for the founding of EFA (Electronic Frontiers Australia), in Adelaide in January 1994.
Although the two organisations have never had any formal relationship, EFA’s objectives are very closely aligned with EFF’s and the two organisations have maintained an excellent working relationship to this day.
In addition to this relationship, EFF also has a strong track record of hiring excellent Australians, including current staff members Peter Eckersley, Jeremy Malcolm (a former EFA Board Member) and Daniel Nazer.
On behalf of everyone at EFA I’d like to wish our friends at EFF a very happy 25th birthday.