The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1990, continues its long-standing mission to defend civil liberties, privacy, and free expression against government and corporate digital surveillance threats.

Key points

• Founded in July 1990 by Mitch Kapor, John Perry Barlow, and John Gilmore to protect digital rights following government raids on Steve Jackson Games.
• Secured a landmark legal precedent in Bernstein v. U.S. Department of Justice, establishing that software code is protected speech under the First Amendment.
• Advocates against widespread corporate data collection and government surveillance practices that threaten user privacy and internet infrastructure.
• Employs a multidisciplinary team of lawyers, activists, and technologists to challenge digital censorship and develop privacy-focused tools for the public.
• Executive Director Cindy Cohn details the organization's history and legal battles in her book, Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance.

• The organization serves as a critical check on both government overreach and corporate surveillance, shaping the legal landscape for how technology users interact with the internet. Its work ensures that fundamental constitutional rights remain protected as digital infrastructure and data-driven business models continue to evolve.