Leading nonprofit defending civil liberties in the digital world. Litigates on encryption, privacy, free speech, and digital rights. Built tools like HTTPS Everywhere and Privacy Badger. 100% Charity Navigator rating.
Starting in 2020 and continuing through multiple reintroductions, the EFF led opposition to the EARN IT Act, which would have removed Section 230 protections from platforms that use end-to-end encryption. EFF organized public campaigns, testified before Congress, and built broad coalition opposition that prevented the bill from passing.
EFF has faced recurring criticism from journalists and activists for accepting substantial donations from major tech companies including Google, Facebook, and others, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest when EFF advocates on issues affecting those donors. Critics noted EFF sometimes took positions aligned with Big Tech interests on issues like FOSTA-SESTA.
EFF filed an influential amicus brief in Carpenter v. United States (2018), arguing that warrantless access to cell phone location records violates the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of privacy, establishing that police need a warrant to access cell site location information. This was a landmark digital privacy ruling.
In 2016, the EFF filed an amicus brief supporting Apple in its legal battle with the FBI over the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. The FBI sought a court order to compel Apple to create a tool to bypass iPhone encryption. EFF argued this would set a dangerous precedent for government-mandated backdoors in consumer technology.
EFF created two widely-used privacy tools: HTTPS Everywhere (with the Tor Project), which automatically upgrades web connections to HTTPS, and Privacy Badger, which blocks invisible trackers. HTTPS Everywhere was installed by millions and helped push the web toward universal encryption. In 2022, EFF retired HTTPS Everywhere as major browsers had adopted HTTPS-by-default.