Electronic Frontier Foundation to swap leaders as AI, ICE fights escalate

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is replacing executive director Cindy Cohn, who is stepping down after leading the digital rights nonprofit through decades of battles over government surveillance and privacy. Cohn, who co-founded EFF as one of its first litigators in the 1990s, is departing as the organization escalates legal fights against Trump administration ICE operations and Department of Homeland Security attempts to unmask critics on social media. EFF has filed and backed lawsuits to protect Americans' rights to anonymously track and share information about ICE activity. The leadership transition comes as communities nationwide mobilize against surveillance tools like Flock cameras that assist in arrests during mass deportation operations. Cohn's departure marks a shift in EFF's leadership as government surveillance has resurged as a civil rights priority after years of focus on Big Tech harms.