Cindy Cohn leaves EFF, but not a fight for digital rights

After a quarter Centuri defends digital rights, Cindy C Cohn announced on Tuesday to deviate as the executive director of the electronic foundation. Cohn, who took Non Profitnufit in San Francisco since 2015. years, he says he will leave a role later this year, concluding a chapter that helped define a modern fight against online.

Cohn first rose to prominence as the main advice Bernstein against the Ministry of JusticeThe 1990s case was overturned by federal restrictions on publishing encrypted code. As the Law Director of the EFF and the newer executive director, she led a group of legal challenges Government surveillanceReforms of the Law on Crimin’s Computer and Efforts to Keur Corporates responsible for collecting data. Over the past decade, the EFF has expanded its influence, becoming a central force in shaping a privacy, security and digital freedom.

In an interview with wired, Cohn reflected on EFF wins for encryption, its unfinished battles against Surveillance Security Agency (NSA)and the work of the organization that protects independent security researchers. She spoke about transfering the balance of power between corporations and governments, pressure for stronger privacy laws at the state level and growing risks represented by artificial intelligence.

Although it steps from leadership, C Cohn speaks wired to plan to stay active in the fight against mass surveillance and government secret. Describing yourself as “more warriors from the manager,” says her intention to return to fronting front. It is also at work in the next book, Defender PrivacyIn order to reveget the next spring, which hopes to inspire a new generation of digital rights advocates.

This interview is arranged for length and clarity.

Wired: Tell us about the fighting you’ve won and those who still feel unfinished after 25 years.

Cindy Cohn: The early struggle we made to free encryption from government regulation continues to stand out as a stage for potentially secure internet. We are still working on pretending to promise in reality, but we are in a similar place than we would have to lose that fight. Encryption protects any one who buys anything online, anyone who uses a signal to be whistling or journalists or just regular people who want privacy and use WhatsApp or Signal. Even the Backend’s certificate authorities provide a duty – which is sure to go to your bank, actually go to the bank’s website – all are encrypted. These are all things that would be at risk of not winning that fight. I think the victory was basic, even though the fighting was not over.

The fighting we had about NSA and National Security, they still work ongoing. We were not successful with our big NSA challenge spying Jewel against NSAAlthough during the long port of this case and accompanying legislative struggles, we managed to return quite a little of what the NSA began to work after 11. September.