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Comment by fianchetto | Hacker News Reader

My own disappointment with EFF comes from many years of watching them go from a grassroots group to being an established thinktank in DC. I don't feel like they represent me and that feeling was certainly reinforced during the past two years with regard to Bitcoin.

It's only my personal opinion. You should donate to whomever you want to. As I said, EFF taking Bitcoin is good for Bitcoin.

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I strongly disagree with this. Afaik they don't even have a single person based permanently in DC, and they don't generally play the DC/lobbying game. If anything, that could be considered a criticism of the way they operate (too idealistic, not compromising enough to be pratical). But they certainly haven't become a "DC thinktank."

They're very much still a grassroots organization. For example, they had a big impact in the anti-SOPA and CISPA campaigns.

To a degree they've shifted their work to providing legal representation to technologists in courts. But that is very, very important and much needed work.

I'm confused as to why you want any group to represent you whose job isn't to represent you.

Hey, just so you know -- I used to work from EFF from 2005-2009, and recently rejoined them. I wasn't around during the suspension of bitcoin, but ensuring that we weren't 'part of the story' is a deliberate policy from far further back than that. Our work is primarily legal in nature, and conflicts of interest in that environment can prevent us from defending key players.

We have one person in DC, and he works there because he likes the city, not because of lobbying or thinktank activities (he's David Sobel, and leads our FOIA work). The rest of us work in San Francisco, and continue the primary role of EFF, which is to act as a legal firm and conduct public impact litigation.

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