TheElectronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an internationalnon-profit based inSan Francisco,United States. It was started in July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promoteInternetfreedoms.[1]
The EFF sponsors legal defense, defends individuals and new technology fromunfair legal threats. It also monitors proposals that may weaken internet freedoms and liberties. It also monitors for possible weakening offair use.
One of the first high profile cases of the EFF wasSteve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service. In early 1990,Steve Jackson Games was under a massivesearch and seizure operation. Copies of the gameGURPS Cyberpunk was considered as proof by mistake. Emails were also modified and were a new technology at the time. It was not considered to be protected by theright to personal privacy at the time.[1][2]
Bernstein v. United States was the second large case of the EFF. ProgrammerDaniel J. Bernstein had sued theUS Government for permission to release hiscryptographicsoftware against limits put by the government.[1][3]
During the mid-1990s, theUnited States Government did not allow for international use of anycryptographic product unless theciphertext could bedecrypted by a third-party with a promise that the government could not read messages protected by theData Encryption Standard (DES) even after it was shown as weak and broken. The EFF had made a piece of hardware called theEFF DES Cracker that could crack a message within 24 hours.[4]
The plans andsource code were made public.[5]
The EFF has made software and browser add-ons like Switzerland,HTTPS Everywhere,[6] andPrivacy Badger.[7]
