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I used to be a big EFF supporter until I learned they take millions in donations from the same organizations they’re supposed to be watching. Best case scenario

I used to be a big EFF supporter until I learned they take millions in donations from the same organizations they’re supposed to be watching. Best case scenario it’s a massive conflict of interest, it’s a big problem for me that they find it to be ok.

jakecopp 5y ago
I hadn't heard this before, could you provide a source or examples?
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donee.php?donee=Electronic+Frontier+Foundation https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donee.php?donee=Electronic+F... Nothing looks particularly nefarious.
stjohnswarts 5y ago
That's a mighty big claim. Do you have similar scale supportive references?
- user3939382 5y ago
  Here’s a start but you can dig for more https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/facebook-google-donate-heavily-to-privacy-advocacy-groups https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/facebook-...
math_and_stuff 5y ago
This is an irresponsible claim if not backed up with a citation. Further, I happen to monitor corporate funding to nonprofits (including the EFF) and public reporting suggests EFF only received $7500 from Google in 2018 and $25K from Facebook. Whereas Center for Democracy and Technology, which was founded by the former Executive Director of the EFF in 1994, received $430K and $500K, respectively. See https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-google-donate-heavily-to-privacy-advocacy-groups https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/face...
- user3939382 5y ago
  “ Google gave the Electronic Frontier Foundation $75,000 in calendar year 2017, $15,500 in calendar year 2016, and $325,000 in calendar year 2015, according tax forms, annual reports, and interviews with the nonprofit.” Add up all the money they’ve accepted from these types of companies over the last 10 years. They shouldn’t be accepting $1 from Google.
  - math_and_stuff 5y ago
    All of the figures from said article add up to EFF receiving a total of $478K from Facebook and Google over four calendar years (2015 through 2018). Of course I agree that these orgs shouldn't accept money from tech giants, but any critique should be done accurately with citations.
    - user3939382 5y ago
      I don't think forum posts require citations, especially when they're correct. This isn't a peer-reviewed paper, it's a forum comment.
      - vel0city 5y ago
        > especially when they're correct But that's the thing, its not correct. You stated the EFF has accepted millions from Facebook and Google, as in multiple millions of dollars. $478k is significantly less than multiple millions. Its over a million dollars away from being correct.
        user3939382 5y ago
        I didn’t specify a time frame or the specific companies. I’ve provided enough evidence to indicate this is true. The larger point is also unequivocally proved: the EFF has massive conflicts of interest that it apparently thinks are fine, which makes it untrustworthy. If they accepted $100,000 from Google that would be just as much of a problem — it’s a huge amount of money. Extrapolating out from the sample data that’s easy to find, it does look like millions. If you want to conduct some in-depth research to prove that wrong please do, I’d be interested to see a full qualification for their horrible conflict of interest.

jakecopp 5y ago

I hadn't heard this before, could you provide a source or examples?

robbedpeter 5y ago
https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donee.php?donee=Electronic+Frontier+Foundation https://donations.vipulnaik.com/donee.php?donee=Electronic+F... Nothing looks particularly nefarious.

stjohnswarts 5y ago

That's a mighty big claim. Do you have similar scale supportive references?

user3939382 5y ago
Here’s a start but you can dig for more https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/facebook-google-donate-heavily-to-privacy-advocacy-groups https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/facebook-...

math_and_stuff 5y ago

This is an irresponsible claim if not backed up with a citation. Further, I happen to monitor corporate funding to nonprofits (including the EFF) and public reporting suggests EFF only received $7500 from Google in 2018 and $25K from Facebook. Whereas Center for Democracy and Technology, which was founded by the former Executive Director of the EFF in 1994, received $430K and $500K, respectively. See https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-google-donate-heavily-to-privacy-advocacy-groups https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/face...

user3939382 5y ago
“ Google gave the Electronic Frontier Foundation $75,000 in calendar year 2017, $15,500 in calendar year 2016, and $325,000 in calendar year 2015, according tax forms, annual reports, and interviews with the nonprofit.” Add up all the money they’ve accepted from these types of companies over the last 10 years. They shouldn’t be accepting $1 from Google.
- math_and_stuff 5y ago
  All of the figures from said article add up to EFF receiving a total of $478K from Facebook and Google over four calendar years (2015 through 2018). Of course I agree that these orgs shouldn't accept money from tech giants, but any critique should be done accurately with citations.
  - user3939382 5y ago
    I don't think forum posts require citations, especially when they're correct. This isn't a peer-reviewed paper, it's a forum comment.
    - vel0city 5y ago
      > especially when they're correct But that's the thing, its not correct. You stated the EFF has accepted millions from Facebook and Google, as in multiple millions of dollars. $478k is significantly less than multiple millions. Its over a million dollars away from being correct.
      - user3939382 5y ago
        I didn’t specify a time frame or the specific companies. I’ve provided enough evidence to indicate this is true. The larger point is also unequivocally proved: the EFF has massive conflicts of interest that it apparently thinks are fine, which makes it untrustworthy. If they accepted $100,000 from Google that would be just as much of a problem — it’s a huge amount of money. Extrapolating out from the sample data that’s easy to find, it does look like millions. If you want to conduct some in-depth research to prove that wrong please do, I’d be interested to see a full qualification for their horrible conflict of interest.