EFF’s Cindy Cohn Steps Down as AI and ICE Fights Heat Up

Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is stepping down. She’s been at the helm of the digital rights group for years, and she’s seen the fight change shape more than once.

Back in 2022, when she started writing her memoir Privacy’s Defender, Cohn worried people would write her off as an “old fuddy duddy” still banging on about government spying. That concern was understandable. For a long time, the public’s attention had drifted away from surveillance state fears and toward Big Tech abuses—data collection, algorithmic bias, monopolistic behavior.

But then Trump’s second term kicked off, and everything shifted again.

ICE operations ramped up nationwide, leaning hard on technology to support mass deportation goals. Suddenly, online privacy wasn’t some abstract concern from the 1990s. It was a frontline defense against raids. Communities started tearing down Flock cameras—those automated license plate readers that help law enforcement track vehicles—across political lines. That’s not something you see every day.

The Department of Homeland Security also tried to unmask ICE critics on social media, largely failing. EFF filed and backed lawsuits fighting to protect Americans’ rights to track ICE activity and share information anonymously. The old fight was back, but with higher stakes and better-funded adversaries.

Meanwhile, AI regulation is becoming a central battleground. EFF has been pushing back against overreaching surveillance tools, facial recognition mandates, and the kind of algorithmic decision-making that disproportionately harms marginalized communities. Cohn’s successor will inherit a landscape where the threats are more varied and the political climate more hostile than when she started.

I’ve been watching EFF’s work for years, and Cohn’s departure feels like the end of an era. She was there from the early days of internet civil liberties litigation, when the biggest worry was whether the government could read your email. Now it’s about whether ICE can track your car, your phone, and your social media posts simultaneously.

The new leader will need to navigate a world where digital rights aren’t just about privacy—they’re about physical safety, immigration status, and the right to exist without being tracked. No pressure.

EFF hasn’t announced a replacement yet, but they’re looking for someone who can handle the heat. Given what’s coming, they’ll need it.