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0 pointstailspin20194y ago0 comments

> Are they pretty effective?

One particular area where I get the impression they have a specific measurable impact is in their legal support on certain cases:

https://www.eff.org/legal-victories

Then there is (for example) their practical solution of how to help increase HTTPS adoption with their excellent software tool, CertBot, which helps automate LetsEncrypt certificates:

https://certbot.eff.org

I’d note that it seems to be exceptionally rare for a politically active organisation to be able to both campaign on issues at a high level AND produce technically viable and relevant software tools. Those are two wildly different areas of expertise, and yet they do this, with a clear overarching narrative.

In terms of proposing more specific solutions to problems they protest against, I don’t have a strong view on whether you’re right to emphasise this or not. Maybe there is more they could do here. But in terms of the larger question of “are EFF effective?” I’d say they are demonstrably having a positive impact.

Is it enough? I don’t know. How do you measure it… Can they do better? Almost certainly.

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5 comments · 1 top-level

melony4y ago· 4 in thread

Look at who really funds the EFF.

https://thebaffler.com/salvos/all-effd-up-levine

pomian4y ago

Interesting article. Very long. But revealing. And disappointing. (Truth usually is.) Then the issue arises, who is worth supporting, that will truly defend our digital privacy?

tailspin2019OP4y ago

I'm not one to normally ask for a TLDR; but that article is a dense 10,000 words...

I'm open to new information... so if you know something I don't, is there a more concise answer to "who really funds the EFF"?

disk04y ago

I’d say section on the history of its creators/Silicon Valley is more important to understanding the problem, but here’s a couple of relevant paragraphs:

> One likely explanation, Glaser reasoned, was that most of these groups depended on funding from the very same corporations that they should be criticizing. Over the past years, EFF has taken millions in funds from Google and Facebook via straight donations and controversial court payouts that many see as under-the-radar contributions. Hell, Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s foundation gave EFF at least $1.2 million.

> But the reason for EFF’s silence on the Facebook surveillance and influence scandal goes deeper—into the business model of the internet itself, which from the outset has framed user privacy as being threatened by ever-imminent government censorship, as opposed to the protection of users and their data from wanton commercial intrusion and exploitation. Put simply, the lords of the internet care very little about user privacy—what they want to preserve, at the end of the day, is their own commercial license against the specter of government regulation of any kind.

pomian4y ago

Google. That's an interesting summary, missing a lot of good writing and references. Also could explain this latest fly over from a cynical point of view.

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