In early 2000, after a tumultuous period in the EFF's history, and the staff down to just a handful, I was elected chair of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I had been on the board for just a few years, but had been close to the organization since it was founded, including participating with it as a plaintiff in the landmark supreme court case which struck down the Communications Decency Act in 1996.

Having now served 10 years as chairman, it is time to rotate out, and I am happy to report the election of John Buckman, founder of Magnatune and Bookmooch (among other ventures) as our new chair. As a part-time resident of Europe, John will, like me, offer an international perspective to the EFF's efforts. Pam Samuelson, a law professor of stunning reputation and credentials, is the vice-chair for the coming 5-year term, replacing John Perry Barlow.

I would love to claim credit for the EFF's tremendous growth and success during my tenure, but the truth is that our active and star-studded board is a board of equals. We all take an active role in setting policy and attempting to guide the organization in its mission to protect important freedoms in the online world. While it would shock most of my previous employees, my board management has been very laissez-faire. I and the other board members try to let our great team do their stuff.

After I became chairman, one of the best things we on the board did was to re-recruit Shari Steele, our former legal director, to become the new executive director. Shari had been with the EFF for many years but had left to work on a new venture. We brought her back and it's been positive ever since. We also recruited Cindy Cohn to be our legal director. Cindy had a long history of friendship with the organization, having worked tirelessly with our help on the fight to stop export controls on encryption. WIth these two appointments, I and my fellow board members started the course for an incredible decade. In spite of a chaotic global economy, during this period, our fundraising, budget and staff size have more than tripled. (That may seem minor for a dot-com but it's great news for a non-profit.) We've boosted membership and membership dontations, increased funding from foundations, and created an endowment to assure the EFF's future.

The EFF is now 20, so I've been privileged to chair it for half of its lifetime. In that period we've seen dramatic victories for free speech, privacy and freedom to program. We've stopped e-voting abuse and rootkits in your music CDs. We've protected bloggers as journalists and preserved anonymous speech online. We've stopped encryption software from being controlled like a munition and had so many other triumphs, big and small. We've also seen an expanded technical and activism program, as our technologists have led the way in unveiling things like secret dots generated by colour laser printers that track your printouts back to you and network interference with filesharing by cable ISPs.

We've also had our failures, but even those have spoken loudly about the quality of our team. When we took Grokster/Streamcast to the supreme court, our client lost, but the court laid down a fairly narrow standard that allows software developers building new generations of publishing products to know how to stay clear of liability. Our cases against the White House's warrantless wiretapping program have hit major hurdles, one of which was an act of congress created specifically to nullify our attempts to have a court examine this program -- granting a retroactive immunity to the phone companies that did it. Bad as that was, I figure if they have to get an act of congress to stop you, you know you've hit a nerve.

We've also hit many nerves with our great FOIA team that has uncovered all sorts of attacks on your rights, and continues to do so, and our team of activists and our new international team are working hard to promote our doctrine of free speech and freedom to develop technology around the world. With all our team does, many are shocked to find it is only around 30 people. Still, we could do much more and your donations are still what makes it all happen. I hope that if you believe in the duty to protect fundamental freedoms online, you will work towards that end directly, or consider outsourcing that work with a donation to us.

I am not leaving the EFF -- far from it. I will continue to be an active boardmember. In addition, I will begin to re-explore commercial ventures, seek new opportunities, and continue on my quest to become a leading evangelist for one of the world's most exciting new technologies -- robotic transportation. At my robocars site you can see my beginnings of a book on the subject, and why it may have the largest positive effect on the world that computer technology delivers in the medium term. Of course with my EFF hat on you will find growing sections on the freedom and privacy issues of the technology.

During my tenure, I have served with a tremendous group of fellow board members, as you can see from the biographies at the EFF board page. I will continue to work with them to protect your rights as the world becomes digital, and I hope you will all join with me in supporting the EFF with your thoughts and your dollars.

We'll mark the transition tonight, Feb 10 at the special EFF 20th birthday bash at DNA lounge. This fundraiser can be attended with a requested $30 donation, and there is also a special VIP event earlier where you can mingle more intimately with the special guests, such as Mythbuster Adam Savage. We have quite a program planned.