The Electronic Frontier Foundation -If Thomas Jefferson Was Alive Today What Would the Founding Father Make of the Internet?
According to its leading statement upon its website, The Electronic Frontier Foundation is "a nonprofit group of passionate people - lawyers, technologists, volunteers, and visionaries - working to protect your digital rights." The organization's mission statement unabashedly asserts the fascinating but controversial idea that "If America's Founding Fathers had anticipated the digital frontier, there would be a clause in the Constitution protecting your rights online, as well!" ("Mission Statement," EFF) Alas, Ben Franklin only experimented with electricity and invented bifocals! The stress upon the EFF's rigorous belief in constitutionality protected free speech as an historic American right is reaffirmed by the organization's icon, that of a minuteman holding a flag aloft with the organization's initials, EFF, as the Patriot stands upon a computer.The implications of this mission statement are not simply constitutional. "Just as Patriots fought for liberty and freedom,
This is crucial not simply because the Internet is a vehicle of free expression like print-the organization thus further suggests that because of the innate democracy of the media-everyone and his brother can begin a blog. "being able to share ideas and information is the reason the Web was created in the first place!" And thus the Internet can even be more democratic than film or copyrighted print. The EFF site, "publishes a comprehensive archive of digital civil liberties information" and is "one of the most linked-to websites in the world: http://www.eff.org." (EFF, "About Us.") The organization is also devoted to protecting small, independent businesses from encroachment from larger companies. "While early threats to our right to communicate came from the government, current threats come also from industry, as it seeks to control and expand current revenue sources at the expense of traditional fair use." (EFF, "About Us.") For example, EFF has taken on several legal
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Approximate Word count = 660
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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