++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
 
MISSION STATEMENT
 
 
A new world is arising in the vast web of digital, electronic media
which connect us.  Computer-based communication media like electronic
mail and computer conferencing are becoming the basis of new forms of
community.  These communities without a single, fixed geographical
location comprise the first settlements on an electronic frontier.
 
While well-established legal principles and cultural norms give
structure and coherence to uses of conventional media like newspapers,
books, and telephones, the new digital media do not so easily fit into
existing frameworks.  Conflicts come about as the law struggles to
define its application in a context where fundamental notions of speech,
property, and place take profoundly new forms. People sense both the
promise and the threat inherent in new computer and communications
technologies, even as they struggle to master or simply cope with them
in the workplace and the home.
 
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been established to help civilize
the electronic frontier; to make it truly useful and beneficial not just
to a technical elite, but to everyone; and to do this in a way which is
in keeping with our society's highest traditions of the free and open
flow of information and communication.
 
To that end, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will:
 
1.      Engage in and support educational activities which increase
popular understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by
developments in computing and telecommunications.
 
2.      Develop among policy-makers a better understanding of the issues
underlying free and open telecommunications, and support the creation of
legal and structural approaches which will ease the assimilation of
these new technologies by society.
 
3.      Raise public awareness about civil liberties issues arising from
the rapid advancement in the area of new computer-based communications
media.  Support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect,
and extend First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and
telecommunications technology.
 
4.      Encourage and support the development of new tools which will
endow non-technical users with full and easy access to computer-based
telecommunications.
 
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
155 Second Street
Cambridge, MA 02141
+1 617 864 0665
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++