8 ms·

Launching the Electronic Frontier Alliance

170 points by Garbage 11y ago

jph 11y ago
I donate to EFF because of the many good projects that help all of us on the net. To donate now: https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button
- _asummers 11y ago
  Additionally, if you're an Amazon user, Amazon Smile allows you to choose the EFF to donate to. There are Firefox/Chrome plugins that redirect normal amazon.com links to smile.amazon.com links so you don't forget.
callcallcall 11y ago
Here's some other ways to support: To donate: https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button To Learn: https://www.youtube.com/user/EFForg https://www.youtube.com/user/EFForg To call your representatives: http://TryVoices.com http://TryVoices.com
- nabla9 11y ago
  "There is no reason why digital rights cannot triumph as often as gun rights. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as digital rights activists, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the NRA." – Kurt Vonnegut, mutatis mutandis
  - tdaltonc 11y ago
    Do they grade all congress persons and their opponents?
- wj 11y ago
  You can also donate by making your Amazon purchases through http://smile.amazon.com http://smile.amazon.com and picking the EFF as your charity of choice. I believe they get 0.5% of each purchase.
sigmar 11y ago
Is there anywhere that an individual could get more involved with these five principles and the EFF? Maybe like a slack group to discuss and promote encryption and privacy?
- iza 11y ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy might be worth a look
  - Caprinicus 11y ago
    The people in that subreddit didn't understand how things like encryption and TOR worked last time I was there.
    - dublinben 11y ago
      Perhaps you could grace them with some of your superior knowledge.
dreta 11y ago
"We anticipate participation from diverse movements such as Occupy, the Tea Party, Black Lives Matter, and the movements for immigrant rights, drug policy reform, peace and justice, gun rights, and others.” Alright, so i’ll be the first to say this. Colleges, and the mentioned movements, ESPECIALLY BLM, have a sick, warped sense of what the word “free expression” means. If you truly want to implement the 5 principles you mentioned, and you want support from rational people, you can’t be looking for the backing of organisations that are currently working hard to stifle them. I’m all for what you’re saying, but you seem to be turning towards people who push for more government control, and regulation. So, sorry, but so far you look like a threat to freedom more than anything else.
- jordigh 11y ago
  I was fully expecting someone in HN to get very upset about Black Lives Matter. I don't know much about them, but judging from their Wikipedia entry, as a whole the movement seems to be doing much more good than harm. It's also a pretty diverse group, and some have used the BLM monicker while being denounced by other members of BLM. So don't paint them all with the same brush. It's like saying that you're against John Stuart Mill or Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz because you dislike feminism[1]. It will be interesting to see which part of BLM the EFA considers to be representative. -- [1] Or absolutely all of these people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feminists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feminists
  - odinduty 11y ago
    >It's like saying that you're against John Stuart Mill or Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz because you dislike feminism[1]. I don't see why you'd have to be against a person just because they support a different point of view on some specific issue.
    - komali2 11y ago
      Really? A person can be the flagship of a movement that is so opposed to your point of view as to be dangerous. A radically religious up and coming politician for example. Or, I suppose, Hitler.
mehrzad 11y ago
I wish the EFF would explain more clearly why digital rights for users are important. Technology in the hands of the few and powerful can lead to authoritarianism, which is part of what makes their work so important. Right now their site only explains that digital rights promote human freedoms. Maybe they don't want to sound too "radical," but for people looking to donate, shouldn't they explain why better privacy, free expression, and digital rights laws are valuable? Love their work though!
- studentrob 11y ago
  Couldn't agree more. More succinct education with facts, rather than FUD, backing up certain viewpoints is needed. For example I found their open letter to the President about encryption to be too much about math to really attract the kind of reader whose opinion we want to change.
- tryitnow 11y ago
  I agree. And I think your point touches on one of the problems I have with EFF. I think they're too adverse to upsetting right leaning libertarians by sounding "radical." But the problem with that is you kind of have to sound radical to explain to people why digital rights are important. Frankly, it's marginalized groups that have the most to fear. Groups that by nature are unpopular. But once you're positioned as defending unpopular groups well then, that may make your more conservative donors uneasy... Honestly, I just personally don't have a lot to fear from state and corporate power. But the Muslims who live across the street? Or the queer couple on the next block? Yes, those folks have some very legitimate reasons to fear surveillancs. I guess I could sum up my problem with EFF by saying that they look and act like people like me. Indeed my social circles intersect with quite a few EFF employees. But people like me really aren't the first targets of authoritarians, so it's going to be hard to get beyond an abstract, theoretical fear of privacy violations.
  - icebraining 11y ago
    I don't actually agree; looking at the recent history, and even current events, the intelligentsia and non-aligned influential people have always been targeted. Their position might grant them more "deference", but on the other hand, they are also more likely to have surveillance used to discredit them. You even have a recent case of a Ron Paul-admiring right-wing libertarian being convicted of "domestic terrorism by trying to devalue the currency": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_von_NotHaus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_von_NotHaus
zmanian 11y ago
In 2013, the initial Snowden documents instantly clarified for me that mass surveillance was the most pressing threat to democracy. I've been working loosely with EFF and ACLU on Surveillance issues for nearly three years. The process of transitioning from passive interest to part time activism wasn't easy as no on ramps really existed. I had to build them myself. I'm hoping EFA will become one of those on ramps.
riffraff 11y ago
I do not understand, what would the concrete effects of the EFA existence (or participation of a given movent to it) be?
nickpsecurity 11y ago
I like this project. It comes from a good organization fighting for democracy. It will create more interest and activity. The tie-in to political groups that create more fighting than action has me a bit uncomfortable. I like that they start with principles all should have in common. It's very important to come up with clear, basic principles all groups can fight together over against corrupt government. Further, we'll all need to remind them of that as little scuffles break out.
matt_wulfeck 11y ago
Supporter of EFF here. Just call me skeptical when I read lines like this: > Bringing together community and campus ... will serve as an increasingly vital hub for activism and organizing > free expression: people should be able to speak their minds to whomever will listen. In my experience these types of organizations are not very interested in discussing topics or ideas that might make them feel uncomfortable. See college safe environments as an example. Why even make this a priority if you don't really mean it?
- mwfunk 11y ago
  If you try to engage with people, you might engage with people or you might not. There's no guarantee that anything will come of it. If you don't try to engage with people, there is absolutely a guarantee that nothing will come of it. In my experience if you spend your time trying to find choirs to preach to, you're wasting your time even when you succeed. Staying away from groups of people because some of them might disagree with you is counterproductive to all participants.
naringas 11y ago
>across the U.S. moves along

170 points by Garbage 11y ago

jph 11y ago

I donate to EFF because of the many good projects that help all of us on the net. To donate now: https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button

_asummers 11y ago
Additionally, if you're an Amazon user, Amazon Smile allows you to choose the EFF to donate to. There are Firefox/Chrome plugins that redirect normal amazon.com links to smile.amazon.com links so you don't forget.

callcallcall 11y ago

Here's some other ways to support: To donate: https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button https://supporters.eff.org/donate/button To Learn: https://www.youtube.com/user/EFForg https://www.youtube.com/user/EFForg To call your representatives: http://TryVoices.com http://TryVoices.com

nabla9 11y ago
"There is no reason why digital rights cannot triumph as often as gun rights. The triumph of anything is a matter of organization. If there are such things as digital rights activists, I hope that they are organized along the lines of the NRA." – Kurt Vonnegut, mutatis mutandis
- tdaltonc 11y ago
  Do they grade all congress persons and their opponents?
wj 11y ago
You can also donate by making your Amazon purchases through http://smile.amazon.com http://smile.amazon.com and picking the EFF as your charity of choice. I believe they get 0.5% of each purchase.

sigmar 11y ago

Is there anywhere that an individual could get more involved with these five principles and the EFF? Maybe like a slack group to discuss and promote encryption and privacy?

iza 11y ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy might be worth a look
- Caprinicus 11y ago
  The people in that subreddit didn't understand how things like encryption and TOR worked last time I was there.
  - dublinben 11y ago
    Perhaps you could grace them with some of your superior knowledge.

dreta 11y ago

"We anticipate participation from diverse movements such as Occupy, the Tea Party, Black Lives Matter, and the movements for immigrant rights, drug policy reform, peace and justice, gun rights, and others.” Alright, so i’ll be the first to say this. Colleges, and the mentioned movements, ESPECIALLY BLM, have a sick, warped sense of what the word “free expression” means. If you truly want to implement the 5 principles you mentioned, and you want support from rational people, you can’t be looking for the backing of organisations that are currently working hard to stifle them. I’m all for what you’re saying, but you seem to be turning towards people who push for more government control, and regulation. So, sorry, but so far you look like a threat to freedom more than anything else.

jordigh 11y ago
I was fully expecting someone in HN to get very upset about Black Lives Matter. I don't know much about them, but judging from their Wikipedia entry, as a whole the movement seems to be doing much more good than harm. It's also a pretty diverse group, and some have used the BLM monicker while being denounced by other members of BLM. So don't paint them all with the same brush. It's like saying that you're against John Stuart Mill or Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz because you dislike feminism[1]. It will be interesting to see which part of BLM the EFA considers to be representative. -- [1] Or absolutely all of these people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feminists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_feminists
- odinduty 11y ago
  >It's like saying that you're against John Stuart Mill or Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz because you dislike feminism[1]. I don't see why you'd have to be against a person just because they support a different point of view on some specific issue.
  - komali2 11y ago
    Really? A person can be the flagship of a movement that is so opposed to your point of view as to be dangerous. A radically religious up and coming politician for example. Or, I suppose, Hitler.

mehrzad 11y ago

I wish the EFF would explain more clearly why digital rights for users are important. Technology in the hands of the few and powerful can lead to authoritarianism, which is part of what makes their work so important. Right now their site only explains that digital rights promote human freedoms. Maybe they don't want to sound too "radical," but for people looking to donate, shouldn't they explain why better privacy, free expression, and digital rights laws are valuable? Love their work though!

studentrob 11y ago
Couldn't agree more. More succinct education with facts, rather than FUD, backing up certain viewpoints is needed. For example I found their open letter to the President about encryption to be too much about math to really attract the kind of reader whose opinion we want to change.
tryitnow 11y ago
I agree. And I think your point touches on one of the problems I have with EFF. I think they're too adverse to upsetting right leaning libertarians by sounding "radical." But the problem with that is you kind of have to sound radical to explain to people why digital rights are important. Frankly, it's marginalized groups that have the most to fear. Groups that by nature are unpopular. But once you're positioned as defending unpopular groups well then, that may make your more conservative donors uneasy... Honestly, I just personally don't have a lot to fear from state and corporate power. But the Muslims who live across the street? Or the queer couple on the next block? Yes, those folks have some very legitimate reasons to fear surveillancs. I guess I could sum up my problem with EFF by saying that they look and act like people like me. Indeed my social circles intersect with quite a few EFF employees. But people like me really aren't the first targets of authoritarians, so it's going to be hard to get beyond an abstract, theoretical fear of privacy violations.
- icebraining 11y ago
  I don't actually agree; looking at the recent history, and even current events, the intelligentsia and non-aligned influential people have always been targeted. Their position might grant them more "deference", but on the other hand, they are also more likely to have surveillance used to discredit them. You even have a recent case of a Ron Paul-admiring right-wing libertarian being convicted of "domestic terrorism by trying to devalue the currency": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_von_NotHaus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_von_NotHaus

zmanian 11y ago

In 2013, the initial Snowden documents instantly clarified for me that mass surveillance was the most pressing threat to democracy. I've been working loosely with EFF and ACLU on Surveillance issues for nearly three years. The process of transitioning from passive interest to part time activism wasn't easy as no on ramps really existed. I had to build them myself. I'm hoping EFA will become one of those on ramps.

riffraff 11y ago

I do not understand, what would the concrete effects of the EFA existence (or participation of a given movent to it) be?

nickpsecurity 11y ago

I like this project. It comes from a good organization fighting for democracy. It will create more interest and activity. The tie-in to political groups that create more fighting than action has me a bit uncomfortable. I like that they start with principles all should have in common. It's very important to come up with clear, basic principles all groups can fight together over against corrupt government. Further, we'll all need to remind them of that as little scuffles break out.

matt_wulfeck 11y ago

Supporter of EFF here. Just call me skeptical when I read lines like this: > Bringing together community and campus ... will serve as an increasingly vital hub for activism and organizing > free expression: people should be able to speak their minds to whomever will listen. In my experience these types of organizations are not very interested in discussing topics or ideas that might make them feel uncomfortable. See college safe environments as an example. Why even make this a priority if you don't really mean it?

mwfunk 11y ago
If you try to engage with people, you might engage with people or you might not. There's no guarantee that anything will come of it. If you don't try to engage with people, there is absolutely a guarantee that nothing will come of it. In my experience if you spend your time trying to find choirs to preach to, you're wasting your time even when you succeed. Staying away from groups of people because some of them might disagree with you is counterproductive to all participants.

naringas 11y ago

>across the U.S. moves along