Which nonprofit digital-rights organization was founded in San Francisco in 1990 by John Perry Barlow and others?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation was founded in San Francisco in 1990 by John Perry Barlow, John Gilmore, and Mitch Kapor.

The organization was created as personal computers and networked communications were becoming central to public life. Its founders argued that existing laws and institutions did not adequately protect speech, privacy, innovation, and other civil liberties in digital spaces. EFF became a nonprofit advocacy group rather than a technology company or venture investor.

Its work has included litigation, policy research, public education, and technical projects. EFF has addressed issues such as online expression, encryption, surveillance, copyright, patent law, and government access to communications. Its supporters see it as a major defender of civil liberties in the internet age.

EFF is sometimes confused with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, another digital-rights nonprofit, or with Creative Commons, which develops copyright-licensing tools. These groups overlap in subject matter but were founded separately and have different organizational missions.