this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2021
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[–] TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml -3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

EFF fights? Why did they stay silent and denialist during Cambridge Analytica?

[–] CHEFKOCH@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)
[–] TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml -2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

See, the issue is they feel like a grifter to me. Cambridge Analytica brought on board even the most ignorant people to condemn Facebook and the whole CIA apparatus, and EFF stayed silent on it. Later they can publish 100 articles like a news reporter, but what they are supposed to be is an activist organisation to fight for privacy, not some political analyst on a TV show.

Moreover, the board of EFF has some questionable entities participating on it.

  • Gigi Sohn - Counselor to former FCC Chairman (FCC has been anti net neutrality) and former Project Specialist for Ford Foundation, a CIA related outlet

  • Sarah Deutsch - former VP for Verizon, and responsible for DMCA being a thing

  • Ample funding from Facebook

Some links:

EFF is not a transparent organisation, unlike how the Linux Foundation (in case you wanted to draw parallels) is related to Linux kernel development and Linux related stuff, which is out in the open.

[–] CHEFKOCH@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I find such accusations without anything behind pretty harsh.

EFF is not a transparent organization....

but what they are supposed to be is an activist organisation to fight for privacy, not some political analyst on a TV show....

Eff has some campaigns running and did so in the past. Campaign that people paid for and they were pretty transparent because they report about all won and lost battles. They have social media, you can ask and contact them over there too. Not sure what your definition of transparent is.

  • You can find absolute no organization without what you call questionable entities in it, the world is not about how perfect things should be, it is about reality and we are in a democracy, it is always about finding the best compromises that fits for everyone and not anarchy. Adding people that previously worked in e.g. Facebook, just an example does not automatically mean they negatively influence your organization, you need simply insiders, opinions and experts from both ends. I for example cannot claim X and then when someone ask me if I used it, admit nope I never did. This is not how real world works, you need to get in touch, get those people onboard and test things on your own and not what other puppets telling you.
  • If you like to smear campaign EFF and their mission feel free to open your own threat on this and then link it to them to give them a fair chance to respond. I do not like to shit-talk others behind their back. The things I express here are already expressed from myself on other platforms too, so I am no hypocrite. I also do not say everything some individuals or organizations do is what I always backup, but again we are in a democracy. If you want perfect things or a perfect world then the Internet is not for you.
  • You linked articles are not really a problem for EFF because they support privacy, we can now talk about whenever the Apple thing is good or bad for privacy but at least they try to go new ways and support - what they think - is better than the current situation. I rather would take this on Apple and not on EFF. People simply just use iOS if you like it or not and Apple tried to address some concerns, sure it is not perfect but its a small process and made some people more aware that there are currently issues.

Can we go back to topic, I think the Cambridge thing is already over and Facebook had his worst year in 2021. I do not like hijacking threads like this. I also do not like to smear someones entire reputation based on one or two things some people did, this is not how things should be handled. Name someone without any flaws, that would be real news and a big bummer. If you dig for dirt you always find some, on every side.

I do not backup EFF on every move they do or did, it also was only an example on who you can support with eg donations.

Now tell me what campaigns you running as private person ... oh whoops none... Full circle.

[–] TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml -2 points 2 years ago

If you are saying Levine's article criticising EFF is baseless, and then go on to handwave

Now tell me what campaigns you running as private person … oh whoops none… Full circle.

CHEF-KOCH, that looks like a personal attack to me, honestly. Considering it as a sign of immaturity, I forgive you. People get uncontrollable in the heat of the moment these days.

I think I have done quite a bit for exposing the anonymous grifts going on in privacy community, proudly so. I have also been able to establish a privacy community on reddit where users get help instead of r/privacy giving privacy seekers mental health issues. I have put myself on the frontlines of Lemmy, the second biggest Fediverse network, to protect it from horrible people, all alone. I have made guides that have gained plenty recognition from all kinds of people. I give OPSEC advice. I dissected the entire WhatsApp privacy policy last year. I go around helping people beyond just the privacy communities and receive DMs for help and advice.

I do a lot for 1 person that refuses donations that have been offered. This is not my CV, and not some self drum beating, but people have no idea when amidst all this, you receive death threats, impersonator attacks, r/privacytoolsio top mod mass brigading his 200K strong subreddit to sitewide ban me, anonymous haters attacking you all the time passively via sockpuppets, and you stand strong, alone. I also mod c/privacy and c/technology besides my r/privatelife and c/privatelife.

I do a lot of work, so think before saying people do nothing. It comes off as beyond snarky and very loaded.

Do not defend corporate tools like EFF. It is all smoke and mirrors, and since you say I do nothing, if I were a multi million dollar mogul, I would be doing a lot of things, more than these people will ever do.