Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

One of EFF's core strategies is bringing and defending lawsuits to protect communication rights, particularly the rights of those who are disadvantaged when it comes to using their own voices for advocacy. For example, in December 2005, EFF challenged Georgia state prison policy in a federal court, arguing that these prisons are violating the rights of prisoners and those who correspond with them by allowing prisoners to receive handwritten mail but prohibiting printouts of material from the internet. In the words of EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston, "It makes no sense and serves no legitimate interest for a prison to prohibit a prisoner from receiving, for example, a printout of the latest issue of Prison Legal News, or information from the Internet about health issues like AIDS that can be life-or-death issues for prisoners." (Prison Legal News is a non-profit legal magazine publishing monthly review and analyses of prisoner rights, prisoner-relevant legislation and court rulings, and news about general prison issues. The majority of the magazine's subscribers, as well as most of its writers, are currently incarcerated.) An online archive of all of EFF's cases is available on the organisation's website.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is also used as a tool for sharing information about digital rights (through, e.g., a list of topics and an email newsletter). Through this medium, EFF both advises policymakers and educates the press and public. Raising awareness is meant, in turn, to be part of the process of mobilising citizens to take action to speak out about violations of digital rights and to "beat back bad legislation". The online Action Center shares various alerts and opportunities for advocacy. For example, citizens are urged to communicate their resistance, via email to "a plan to give Hollywood remote control of how you record, copy, transfer, or replay over-the-air digital television" that "was knocked flat by the courts. Now the film and TV industries are running to Congress to get the fix in. Tell your representative you don't want Hollywood to hobble your digital media devices..." Clicking on a link provides access to a personalisable email letter that a citizen may send to his or her Senators or Representatives.

EFF also engages in various activist special projects, also using the internet as a tool. For example, the Blue Ribbon Campaign involves encouraging bloggers and website managers to place a Blue Ribbon Campaign icon on their servers and web pages to signify support for the right to free speech on the part of bloggers and citizen journalists (e.g., the right to blog anonymously, the right to freely blog about elections, the right to access as media, and so on).

EFF also recognises "pioneers of the electronic frontier" through a yearly award that acknowledges those who have "contributed substantially to the health, growth, accessibility, or freedom of computer-based communications." The contribution may be technical, social, economic, or cultural. Nominations are made for this award are made through email, and winners are announced (and their backgrounds described) online.

Rights, Technology.

"From the Internet to the iPod, technologies of freedom are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. These technologies are increasingly under attack, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense, protecting our civil liberties in the networked world."