Nathan Sheard
Grassroots Advocacy Organizer
815 Eddy Street, on the edge of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, is a special place. While the people who work here do not often wear capes (we have been known to from time to time), their dedication to protecting civil liberties, and upholding the most fundamental of promises enshrined in the Bill of Rights, is nothing less than heroic. In a culture that lionizes entertainment and sports figures, you’re unlikely to find kids on a playground emulating EFF’s most dramatic wins, but there is no team more dedicated than the people that assemble each day within this building's walls.
In July of 2017, I received the call that I liken to the moment a college athlete finds out they have just been chosen in the draft to represent the top team in the league and asked to play alongside the most dedicated professionals in the field. As EFF’s Grassroots Advocacy Organizer, I get to work alongside community members, organizers, and technologists that are passionate about ensuring privacy and fundamental rights for all.
… it became necessary for many of us to become versed in ways we could work with supportive attorneys to push back on these violations, and become better acquainted with tools that would provide security where legal protections were lacking.
Government surveillance is not a phenomenon born of the digital age. However, with each new innovation in technology, federal and local law enforcement agencies and their commercial suppliers have pushed for new ways to invasively monitor the public, often with disproportionate impact on activists, as well as ethnic and religious minorities. My own path to understanding this reality better came as a result of working with activist communities in New York and later in cities throughout the country. As an activist in New York City, surveillance by the NYPD and other agencies was a regular occurrence. As these agencies began to use cell-site simulators and more advanced tools of surveillance that pushed the boundaries of warrant requirements and the Handschu decree (itself resulting from the NYPD’s history of unconstitutional surveillance of First Amendment protected activity), it became necessary for many of us to become versed in ways we could work with supportive attorneys to push back on these violations, and become better acquainted with tools that would provide security where legal protections were lacking.
"As I developed the skills to assure that my data and my community’s information was secure, something happened... Others began coming to me for support in securing their own digital communications.
One resource I came to rely upon was EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense Guide (SSD). As I developed the skills to assure that my data and my community’s information was secure, something happened that I’m sure many EFF supporters can relate to. Others began coming to me for support in securing their own digital communications.
At the same time, many communities (especially activist ones) were growing more concerned with the security of their communication and devices. With increasing regularity, their phones were being seized as they entered the country, and community gatherings and religious institutions were being monitored. In North Dakota, where I was working before joining EFF, we learned that our concerns about protecting the information of hundreds of Water Protectors were well-founded. Reports revealed that law enforcement agencies worked directly with the mercenary firm Tiger Swan to surveil and infiltrate protest camps.
As you might expect, many other groups began to contact EFF for guidance on how to support and protect their neighbors and loved ones. It would not be practical or responsible for EFF or any national organization to respond individually to the overwhelming breadth of calls from such a wide range of concerned communities, facing a variety of immediate and potential threats. Luckily, the remarkable folks I now count as colleagues and friends did what they do with remarkable consistency. They developed a solution.
Days into joining EFF, I was overjoyed to get hands-on with resources that would become the Security Education Companion (SEC). I had become part of a cross-disciplinary team of activists, technologists, design professionals, and attorneys, working with the support of many outside educators and organizations, united to maximize their support for communities everywhere. Building on the lessons learned in the development of SSD, the SEC was designed to help that person who has—perhaps unintentionally—become the de facto trainer within their community. SEC provides solid training to build pedagogical skill and to assure the information they’re delivering is accessible to everyone in the room.
Like me years before, many who find themselves thrust into the role of digital security trainer for their community do not have the experiences of both teaching and assessing security technology. The SEC helps bridge that knowledge gap. Additionally, rather than having professional experts parachuting into communities where they lack first-hand knowledge of the concerns and threats, and with whom the development of trust takes time, EFF teaches members of a community how to help each other.
I’ve worked closely with members of over 70 grassroots allies across the country and watched organizers who initially called me with concern in their voices, grow confident in their
ability to walk new learners through understanding encryption, securing their accounts, threat modeling, and more.
The array of skills, expertise, and evident desire to look at a situation from every angle and work toward the best solution is what first enamored me with EFF’s work. A year has passed since I first walked through the doors of EFF’s HQ. Yet, I still come to work every day with the same excitement to work alongside this superhero team. Each day is a cherished challenge and an opportunity.
