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EFF Equivalent in the EU?
jregel asks: "In
the US, the Electronic Frontier
Foundation works to protect digital rights on the Internet. I
live in the UK, and would like to give money to a similar
organization that will fight for my rights. Is there an EFF
equivalent for those of us in the EU?"
While there does not appear to be a direct equivalent of the EFF in the UK/EU, one organisation that springs to mind is Statewatch, which is dedicated to monitoring civil liberties (including electronic) in the EU.
Hopefully organisations like these will stop abuses of power such as the EU Telecommunications Directive (news story ZDNET) which calls for ISP and Telecomms to retain communication records for 7 (yes, seven) years.
Some people are also rather annoyed with Echelon, the Menrith Hill based UK-US monitoring centre which listens to some/many/all (depending on who you talk to!) calls and email within the UK. Personally, I have a soft spot for it, since it really annoys the French: ZDNET story
On a semi-related note, the Campaign for FOI is campaiging for more open access to information in the UK.
On an insane note, these people Project Freedom are determined to expose MI5/MI6/CIA use of mind control on socialists and other undesirables...
As a UK citizen this won't probably help you much, but here in Finland we have had Electronic Frontier Finland since last autumn. Unfortunately at the moment EFFi's web page is only in Finnish. Anyway, if you're located in Finland, I highly recommend joining the organization.