EFFecting Digital Freedom

by Soraya Okuda and Elliot Harmon

Building Digital Safety Skills in Your Community

Many things changed on November 8, 2016.  One change came almost instantly: EFF started getting lots and lots of requests for digital security trainings.  They poured in from all over the country: activist networks, newsrooms, scientist groups, religious organizations.  People weren't naĩve they'd known about surveillance for a long time, but, for many, the dangers felt more personal.  With a president who'd threaten the press, promise to deport millions, and track people based on their religious beliefs, security stopped being optional.

Around the same time, people started reaching out to us en masse - many of them IT professionals - asking us how they could get involved.  In our process of thinking about these challenges, we determined one thing very quickly: the solution was not to fly more technologists out to one-day workshops.  The old model of parachuting into a roomful of strangers and shouting "Use Tor, use Signal!" doesn't work.

What works is training from within - working with people who are part of the community day in and day out, people who have built trust, who understand the threat models of the groups they work with, and who can respectfully engage with people to be safer in using their devices.

EFF works with a network of grassroots organizations around the country (the EFA, or Electronic Frontier Alliance), and many of those groups run their own digital security training programs in their local communities - in the form of informal CryptoParties, facilitated group conversations, structured courses, and everything in between.  We started asking ourselves what we could build to help support educators and organizers embedded in their communities: those who are empowering their friends and neighbors to learn digital security.

We already maintain Surveillance Self Defense (ssd.eff.org), our online guide to protecting your privacy online.  SSD is one of the most popular parts of the EFF website.  Nothing gratifies us more than hearing that someone used it to teach their loved ones how to make stronger passwords or how to encrypt their devices.  But it's not enough as a teaching resource.  We want to expand SSD with resources for users to lead their communities in healthy security practices.

We've been interviewing dozens of U.S.-based and international trainers about what learners struggle with, their teaching techniques, the types of materials they use, and what kinds of educational content and resources they want.  We've also been reassessing our own training methodologies.  We've been testing out new content and methods, asking participants for honest feedback and suggestions, and listening carefully to what they tell us.  We've also been working on developing a feedback loop, to see which recommendations stick and what doesn't work.

Which brings us to you, the 2600 reader.  If you're using your time to help others learn about digital security and how to protect their privacy, we'd love to hear about your experiences and what's worked well for you.  We might even be able to connect you with groups you can work with locally, either through the EFA or through other networks.

Finally, if you're eager to defend free speech, privacy, and creativity in your city, then consider getting involved with the EFA.  Whatever you have to offer - whether it's teaching people about security, demanding accountability from local politicians, organizing events in support of digital rights, or something we haven't even thought of - there's a place for you to make a difference.  More info can be found at www.eff.org/fight.