Electronic Privacy Information Center

Electronic Privacy Information Center   (NGO)
Abbreviation	EPIC
Formation	1994
Headquarters	Washington D.C., USA
Type	think tank
Sponsored by	Ford Foundation, Georgetown University, Omidyar Network, Open Society Foundations
Membership	•  Anita Allen •  Harry Lewis •  Paul Smith •  Danielle Citron •  Whitfield Diffie •  David Farber •  Addison Fischer •  Jeff Jonas •  Chris Larse •  Helen Nissenbaum •  Sherry Turkle •  Shoshana Zuboff •  Marc Rotenberg •  Deborah Hurley •  Jerry Kang •  Edward G. Viltz •  Anita L. Allen •  Whitfield Diffie •  Philip Friedman •  Peter Neumann (SRI) •  Bruce Schneier
A think tank concerned with the impact of technology on privacy and free speech.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is a think tank concerned with the impact of technology on privacy and free speech.

EPIC pursues a wide range of civil liberties, consumer protection, and human rights issues, but steers away from the more radical issues. Funding comes from some of the larger grantmaking foundations, including some of the mightiest Silicon Valley billionaires.

Work

The organization was founded in 1994 by the Fund for Constitutional Government and the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. EPIC conducts research, files lawsuits against private corporations and government bodies, sends members to testify before Congress, funds smaller ally organizations and gives out Champion of Freedom Awards.

EPIC has pursued several successful consumer privacy complaints with the US Federal Trade Commission, concerning Snapchat (faulty privacy technology), WhatsApp (privacy policy after acquisition by Facebook), Facebook (changes in user privacy settings), Google (roll-out of Google Buzz), Microsoft (Hailstorm log-in), and Choicepoint (sale of personal information to identity thieves).

EPIC has also prevailed in significant Freedom of Information Act cases against the CIA, the DHS, the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency (NSA), the ODNI, and the Transportation Security Administration.

EPIC has also filed many "friend of the court" briefs on law and technology, including Riley v. California (U.S. 2014) (concerning cell phone privacy), and litigated important privacy cases, including EPIC v. DHS (D.C. Cir. 2011), which led to the removal of the x-ray body scanners in US airports.

EPIC Champion of Freedom Award

EPIC established the Champions of Freedom Award in 2004 "to recognize individuals and organizations that have helped safeguard the right of privacy, promote open government, and protect democratic values with courage and integrity". Its award winners are mostly decidedly within the mainstream framework (with the partial exception of Edward Snowden in 2014), and include senior US judges,ambassadors and politicians.

Funders

Major donors over the years include the Ford Foundation, Open Society Institute, Rockefeller Family Fund and many others.

Members

Members include board members from 2009 and 2021, but not the bigger advisory board

 

Known members

2 of the 20 of the members already have pages here:

Member	Description
Bruce Schneier	An expert on cryptography, who has written over a dozen books on the subject.
Shoshana Zuboff

 

Sponsors

Event	Description
Ford Foundation	In addition to its own billionaire agenda, also known to have been $$$ middleman for covert CIA funding.
Georgetown University	The #1 spooky US university
Omidyar Network	Foundation owned by the the deep state-connected billionaire Pierre Omidyar, financing preferred NGOs
Open Society Foundations	A NGO operating in more countries than McDonald's. It has the tendency to support politicians (at times through astroturfing) and activists that get branded as "extreme left" as its founder is billionaire and bane of the pound George Soros. This polarizing perspective causes the abnormal influence of the OSF to go somewhat unanswered.

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