The Internet is global, and so are threats to digital freedom. Over the past year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has fought Internet censorship, oppressive copyright laws and privacy violations wherever they've been under threat around the world.
With the help of our global partners and supporters like you, EFF has been able to achieve great things over the past year:
- Protecting Freedom of Expression.EFF helped establish the Global Network Initiative, garnering commitments from leading technology companies worldwide to resist pressure from government censors in repressive countries and to advance freedom of expression in their products and services.
- Making Information More Accessible. EFF helped make knowledge and information accessible to more people across the world by fighting for exceptions and limitations to copyright for the reading disabled, for libraries and archives, for educational purposes, and for innovative services.
- Assembling the World's Copyright Laws. EFF helped create Copyright-Watch.org, the most comprehensive publicly available database of international copyright laws ever assembled. Currently including the laws of 187 countries, Copyright-Watch.org was created to strengthen the global network of copyright experts, to facilitate comparative policy research, and to provide for national advocacy support.
- Creating Global Privacy Standards. EFF worked with public interest organizations from every continent to create international standards for privacy that ensure the priority of civil rights in the face of increasing surveillance and monitoring.
- Influencing European Internet Policy. EFF collaborated with digital rights and consumer protection advocates in Europe to preserve judicial oversight and due process in IP enforcement efforts and to fight Three Strikes proposals.
- Promoting Access to Knowledge in Developing Countries. EFF promoted access to knowledge in the developing world by encouraging government bodies to create interoperability standards that encouraged universal access.
- Exposing the Lack of Transparency in Trade Negotiations. EFF led the battle to shed sunlight on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret multi-national pact that could severely limit digital rights.
- Fighting Against Abuse of Cybercrime Legislation. EFF supported local activists in Brazil, Kazakhstan, and Thailand fighting against the abuse and misuse of cybercrime laws to suppress legitimate activity. EFF also fought to secure privacy rights and civil liberties protections in the legislative implementation of the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention.
This is but a sample of the things we've worked on in 2009. For more information about our international mission, see http://www.eff.org/issues/international.
Please donate to EFF today, and join us in the fight for a free and open Internet:
http://www.eff.org/give
Thanks in advance for your support!
Happy Holidays from EFF's International Team
