In my three previous articles, I’ve painted a rather bleak picture of how our money is being stolen, our privacy is being violated and our free speech rights are being trampled by those who desire to control the Internet. There is no doubt that businesses and governments have worked hand-in-hand to squash personal freedoms worldwide, and make boatloads of money in the process.
The situation, however, is not hopeless. There are many Davids willing to take on the government/business Goliath, without whose help things would be much, much worse than they are now. I call these Davids the “Defenders of the Internet.”
The motto of the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org) is, “defending freedom in the digital world,” and they certainly are at the front of the fight. Founded in 1990, before most people had even heard of the Internet, EFF is an interesting group of “lawyers, technologists, volunteers and visionaries working to protect your digital rights.” EFF filed its first lawsuit on behalf of one of its founders, who had his computers seized and business nearly ruined in a bungled Secret Service investigation. No charges were filed, and his computers were eventually returned, but not before the Secret Service had accessed, and then deleted all of the email that was on his computers. This landmark case was the first to establish a legal precedent that email is entitled to the same privacy rights as telephone calls. I first became aware of EFF’s activities a number of years ago at the annual Defcon security convention in Las Vegas, and have been a supporter ever since.
Few groups distribute information about Internet privacy and freedom as effectively as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (www.epic.org). Established in 1994, EPIC is a public interest research center designed to “focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.” You can join their email list and receive their newsletter, The Epic Alert. Their latest downloadable annual report, Spotlight on Surveillance, is required reading for anyone concerned about living in a free society. EPIC also features a pretty thorough guide to “Practical Privacy Tools,” including secure email and web browsing, email encryption, anonymous web surfing and emailing, pop-up ad and “cookie” blocking, voice encryption (just like James Bond!), secure instant messaging, “true” file erasing, and much more.
You can find links to these organizations on my website at www.davemoorecomputers.bravehost.com. There are also links to other fine organizations, such as Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and Judicial Watch. If you come across other organizations that you think I should know about, please mention them to me in an email.
The list of anti-freedom plans that have been thwarted by groups like EFF and EPIC is truly shocking, and we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to these defenders of the Internet. But, don’t just sit on your duff and be grateful – get involved, and help the cause.