In 2009, the EFF set out on a long-term mission to encrypt the Web. Our aim was to switch hypertext from insecure HTTP to secure HTTPS. HTTPS is essential in order to defend Internet users against surveillance of the content of their communications; cookie theft, account hijacking, and other web security flaws; and some forms of Internet censorship. In the intervening ten years, we’ve seen tremendous progress. We cajoled tech companies, wrote a browser extension, and even helped launch a certificate authority. But we’re still not satisfied.
Now, the EFF is working to not only encrypt the web: we’re expanding our mission to encrypt the entire Internet. The first stage of that campaign is a new project called STARTTLS Everywhere, which will do for mailserver communication what Let’s Encrypt and Certbot did for webservers. But in order to do it right, we need your feedback. If you’re a mailserver sysadmin, we particularly want you to come to this talk and share your thoughts with us.
Jeremy Gillula (@the_zeroth_law) is the Tech Projects Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. As Tech Projects Director Jeremy leads the team that develops EFF’s public-facing software projects, including EFF’s browser extensions HTTPS Everywhere and Privacy Badger, as well as Certbot, our tool for sysadmins to make setting up HTTPS easy. The team also draws on their experience to advise EFF’s lawyers and activists, the press, and the public about policy issues from a technology perspective.